Sophia Flores: Week 1 Recap

Week one down, seven more to go. I have truly learned so much during this past week from the various presentations and training. I learned more about first aid, time management, pesticides, lab safety, and field safety. I have prior experience in first aid and CPR training, but I never quite thought of how it would go hand-in-hand with field safety. Learning more about this aspect and the importance of field safety made me more aware of possible dangers and how to prevent them. I also found the pesticide training very informative because previously I was not aware of the side effects of contamination and how serious a health hazard they can be. Overall, learning these skills has made me much more aware of the precautions and safety measures that need to be taken to stay safe in the field.

Brainstorming and writing the rough draft research proposal was challenging for me. I have no experience in wildlife science let alone the techniques that are needed for data collection. My partner Coby on the other hand has a lot of experience with these topics. He was very helpful throughout this whole process by explaining terminology I was not familiar with and brainstorming creative ideas about how we can conduct our project. I really appreciate his guidance and I’m excited to work with him more on this project. I am looking forward to putting our project into action next week by setting out our cover boards.

My favorite activities were the tours of PWA and Martel Forest, the outreach trip to the Indiana Dunes, and the daily van rides in the “dump truck”. I’ve never really been led on an informative hike around the nearby properties that focused on various aspects of forestry, so I was amazed by everything that Brian Beheler shared with and showed us. The Indiana Dunes was absolutely beautiful. I’d never been there before, so I thought it was cool learning how the dunes were formed as well as the different habitats and plants in the area. I also took a picture with Alexis when we were at the beach looking over Lake Michigan. Lastly, the car rides in the “dump truck” are especially the highlights of my week now that we have a shared “Van Vibes” playlist on Spotify to blast on the terrible bass. I’m also looking forward to spending more time with everybody when we have free time.