Kamryn Dehn: Week 5 Recap

Week 5 was pretty laid back for me! I continued working on assigning standards to the Freedom Seekers curriculum, and brainstormed a few future projects that I could work on during this internship. One project I'm super excited for is an idea I've had for a while, but never really had any time to work on. I want to write introductory environmental science books for children that feature different disabled characters that the readers encounter in each book. For example, in one book, readers may learn all about the arctic and different environmental terms and processes that are relevant to the arctic like climate vs. weather, water and air circulation, ice regimes, etc. In this book, a fictional, disabled character will lead readers through the arctic and teach readers all of the relevant concepts. I really want to emphasize disabled characters because in science, especially natural resources, most people are able-bodied. As someone who has struggled with a painful invisible orthopedic condition, I've had to face hurdles that most of my peers haven't. I want to show kids that is possible to succeed in this field and find opportunities that won't be painful or restricting.

In week 5, I also ordered some new books to read at Martell. One of which is Reflections of Eden by Birute Galdikas, a book I've been wanting to read for a long, long time. It details her experiences studying orangutans in Indonesia and highlights some of the most memorable orangutans she studied. I first learned about this book in one of my primatology classes and I'm very excited to start reading it!