Nicole Wilson
1. What did you learn about your particular issue?
Diving into a project like this meant that I would have to step out of my comfort zone and talk to people who I have always considered to be on a higher level of life than me, which has not proven to be very easy. I have learned that it can be frustrating to work with other people who don’t necessarily want to help out. Plus, managing schedules is also a very hard part of adult life; therefore, trying to work around these schedules in order to find what is the best possible solution for all parties is difficult. Also, I learned that one cannot have a new program without an existing program. Silver Creek is not a Green-Star school, so it is not possible to have compost bins until that is a truth. Another thing I learned was that only twelve out of the forty-eight schools in the district have a composting program, and not a single one is a high school.
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2. How did you try to impact this problem/issue/policy? What impact did you make?
My partner and I figured that the best way to go about doing this project was to raise awareness in the community. To do so, we had to involve all people who it concerned. Although we didn’t necessarily speak to everyone, we did survey 300 students about their thoughts on composting, emailed Dara Ward (the Energy and Sustainability director of SVVSD) with questions, and emailed Mr. Finnestead with questions, too. There was not a huge impact, or at least a noticeable one, with this project because no compost bins were put in and it did not seem that very many cared. Hopefully awareness was spread to some of the minds of the people we surveyed and they use a compost bin at home or begin to help the environment more, but it is not likely.
3. What knowledge or skills did you you gain through this CAP experience? Be specific.
Through this CAP experience I learned more about the impact we have on our environment, especially negatively. I also learned how the people can help prevent it. Composting is one of these ways because most of the waste that we bring to our landfills can be easily composted. I also understand more about composting works and have been able to effectively use one in my own home. Overall, the biggest thing I gained from doing this project was obtaining a larger understanding about how I can get involved in my own government and what I needed to do to be more active, aware, and immersed in helping out my community.
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4. How did your feelings and attitudes about effective and engaged citizenship change throughout the course of the unit? Explain.
At the beginning of this unit, I was fairly nervous to start becoming a more active member of my local society. But as I started to learn more about something I was passionate about, I became more confident that change was what needed to happen, and that is bigger than any silly little nerves. I will admit, I still did not quite want to speak in person to the principal or Dana Ward, but if it was a step I needed to take, I would’ve gone through with it. I think it is overall an amazing idea to get students or local citizens more involved in their community because it shows that the people can have some power back and they get to learn more about how they can make a positive change to the world.
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5. Do you see yourself working on this issue after the project continues? What recommendation would you make to the next person who chose to work on this issue?
I do indeed see myself wanting to work on this in the future. It will probably not be the sooner future because I quite frankly do not have much time to work on project this big when I have other things going on in my life. I will definitely work on spreading awareness withe the environment in the future because I am passionate about it. In fact, I am a part of the Environmental Club so that I can help do so. For anyone who wants to take up this project in the future, I recommend you really make an effort to speak with higher level people because that will not only set you a precedence, but it will also move you further into your goals as you can sit down and really have intense discussions.
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Kaitlyn Ryan
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What did you learn about your particular issue?
I learned that there are many schools in our district that have composting programs, but none of them are high schools. I also learned that there are programs for transportation that would work and that it doesn’t cost much because these services get grants from the district. I also learned that there are a lot of passionate people working on this issue and that the majority of people agree that this is an important issue to pursue.
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2. How did you try to impact this problem/issue/policy? What impact did you make?
We tried to get the opinions of students at Silver Creek and spread awareness of why everyone should compost their organic waste by putting facts at the top of our surveys. I don’t know if we made a huge impact but people might remember our survey and there are now composting bins in the kitchens (however, we probably didn’t have much of an impact on that).
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3. What knowledge or skills did you you gain through this CAP experience? Be specific.
I learned how to get in contact with people and how to do more public speaking through announcing what our survey was about and speaking with people who are in charge. I also learned how to be more persistent and make sure people are listening to me. Additionally, I found out that people are more than willing to help if you ask them to but some people might give you very vague answers to avoid giving you the information that you want.
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4. How did your feelings and attitudes about effective and engaged citizenship change throughout the course of the unit? Explain.
Throughout this unit, I became much more aware of how much of an impact I can actually have. Before starting this unit, I figured one person couldn’t make that much of a difference and that nobody would really listen to my ideas. However, I learned that if you’re passionate and persistent about something, people will listen to you and you might discover that other people are motivated by the same things. It’s important to be involved in government because if nobody speaks up, the voice of the common citizen will be lost among the powerful and financially motivated voices of government officials.
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5. Do you see yourself working on this issue after the project continues? What recommendation would you make to the next person who chose to work on this issue?
I might talk a little bit more with Kim Fung, who is also working to get composting bins in the school, but I’m very busy and probably won’t be able to pursue this issue to the degree that it deserves. I would tell the next person that there are practical ways of accomplishing this and that there are many people who would use a composting bin, which would almost certainly reduce the waste our school produces. I would also tell them to be professional and confident when talking to people in positions of authority and to not be afraid to talk to people face to face.
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