Emily's Recap - Week 4

It is the end of week 4, which means we are half way through the program! How wild is that? I’ve learned so much already and my confidence in the research process is so much higher than it was at the beginning. It’s cool to see everyone in the midst of their projects. I feel like the other groups are up to their elbows in work and are struggling to get their data collected, meanwhile Jenny and I are kind of at a standstill with our data collection. Yesterday, we measured the heights of all 150 trees with a height pole. ALL 150 TREES. I don’t know if you’ve ever used a height pole but let me tell you, it’s an arm workout for sure. As we were doing this we made friends with a very cool toad.

Tom Campbell, the ever famous photographer for Purdue’s School of Agriculture came out on Tuesday to snap some pictures of us in the field. Jenny and I were not cut out for the modeling world, just take my word on that one. I haven’t seen the end result yet but I’m sure I look like a troll at best in all of them.

Next week we will start the outreach portion of the program; we’ll be working with kids a lot, teaching them some neat things about nature and all that good stuff. I think this is going to be Jenny’s time to shine. She told me that she likes the outreach/educational aspect of natural resources and that she likes working with kids, so I’m excited to see her do her thing and lead them in some fun activities. I love watching kids get excited about the outdoors and having the chance to inspire them. Hopefully we can shine a light! Until next time.