The highlight of April was Earth Week, the 14th through the 22nd (Earth Day), in which Greenfield hosted a bunch of fun events to celebrate Earth appreciation and awareness of environmental issues. The week began with La Casa Verde, a green building festival at the Saturday farmers’ market in McMinnville, put on by a local building company. Members of Greenfield volunteered throughout the day setting up, running errands, and doing various activities for kids, such as art projects and face paint. During the week, we watched a new documentary from the Sierra Club called Revenge of the Electric Car, about the race among car companies to come out with viable electric vehicles. We also made posters to promote the Tap That campaign to end bottled water sales on campus. Just this week we hung them over water fountains in many buildings on campus. As part of Global Youth Service Day on the 21st, Greenfield went to volunteer at the McMinnville community garden, where we pulled tarps off raised garden beds and spread compost. On Earth Day we hiked to a waterfall in nearby Metzger Park, and then had a potluck and composted our food waste. The following weekend, I also led a small group to Salem to pull ivy in a former state park, which was a lot of fun. I am enthusiastic about organizing ivy-pulling groups for the fall semester, as a way to get new club members involved.
Aside from being super busy with Greenfield, I’ve also been swamped with class work. It seems as though a lot of my friends are in the same boat, leading me to think it has something to do with junior year. My main issue is that I have had or still have group projects in three of my four academic classes. I hate group projects with a passion because I like to be completely in control of anything that potentially impacts my grade. So my stress level tends to shoot through the roof any time I’m in a group project. I am excited, nonetheless, to only have one final exam this semester, in Environmental Economics. Unfortunately, that means I have a lot of term papers due at the same time.
I had the opportunity to attend a dinner with a handful of professors and students and a marine biologist who came to speak on campus named Wallace J. Nichols. He is an extremely intelligent man who has been an environmental activist and scientist his entire career. I was unable to attend the lecture, but I was very happy to have been able to have dinner with him and learn about his extensive work. Also, I had the best meal ever from the dining hall, which actually can make really good food.
I am once again amazed that the end of the semester is coming up fast. As ready as I am to be done with the perpetual onslaught of schoolwork for a while, I would like more time to hang out with friends that are graduating. I keep being reminded that next year I will be graduating, which I’m not ready to talk about! Next fall my course load will be less intense. I am only going to have twelve academic class credits, and then I will be getting credits for swimming, choir, and community service with the Spanish department. I am excited about this community service class, although at this point I do not know exactly what it will entail!