A Reflection of the Semester

            Every month, I meet with my Natural Resource Options class at Dungeness Spit. The class is run through Mr. Lieberman at the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center. It is primarily a field-based class; you do a lot of hands-on things such as planting trees or picking up debris from the beach. Also, I do surveys with COASST, a citizen science project dedicated to monitoring marine ecosystems. At the end of the semester, I turn in a project journal. What is the project? In my case, I chose a question pertaining to the Dungeness Spit and implemented researching the question through the scientific process. It’s an amazing experience because I have had the opportunity to work with volunteers at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and receive a glimpse at the Natural Resources field.

            The experience has been similar with working with NOSC.  While COASST is dedicated to monitoring marine ecosystems, NOSC is more about the action in maintaining healthy ecosystems for salmon. In the class, my “project” with the student internship is assisting with the blog about the class and 3 Crabs Restoration Project. Like in my other class, I have picked up debris to habitats clean, and in the future I will be helping with tree planting with NOSC.

            I suppose the key difference between the two is that my Natural Resources Options class is more independent while the student internship has been more structured. When working on my project for Natural Resources Options, the project I choose is mostly up to me. My teacher, Mr. Lieberman, checks in on my project about once a month, but other than that I’m on my own. With the student internship, on the other hand, I meet every week to discuss the goals and expectations of what I am doing with the blog. Essentially, with the first one, I am learning to work independently and make my own timely decisions over a long period of time. With the other, I am learning how to work in the timely manner to complete the expectations of another in a shorter time period. Both are  great experiences for me, and I am happy do being doing them.