Quarter Reflection

1.) My independent readings and blog postings
Although all my blog posts and comments weren't completely on time, I still completed them all. I thoroughly enjoyed reading my fellow interns' insight into our common topic. When I completed the posts I put in a lot of thought and did my best to connect personalize and summarize the readings. I really did enjoy the readings because they helped me find insight into different topics that I might not have otherwise known about.

2.) My personal projects
As Hannah mentioned in her post, I feel like all of our projects somehow overlapped and everyone managed their projects very well. I personally had the project of writing the EcoMaine grant and currently am working to organize a bottle drive after Thanksgiving. I also helped a little with Colleen's composting stations project since our projects seemed to overlap.

3.) My communications with faculty, professionals, peers
Although I was unable to be present for some meetings, I feel like I kept in good touch with my peers. We always had emails and Facebook chats going keeping one another updated on each of our activities. Yet, my projects did not need as much faculty and professional interaction to the same extent the other projects needed. Although, if I had been able to attend more out of school meetings or small trips (ex. the trip to Cape Elizabeth High School) I may have had more interaction.

4.) My community involvements
Well, there are each of our projects that are slowly working towards a common project. Plus, a while back, all four of the interns canvassed in South Portland about the topic of tar sands. I feel like this was a great way to connect with the Greater Portland community and learn about different environmental movements. Also, up until the last month, Colleen and I monitored the cafeteria stations during lunch in order to ensure that people were composting and recycling properly.

5. ) Our internship meetings, Tuesday lunches, gatherings, communication, etc...
I have attended every Tuesday lunch meeting, Wednesday morning meetings, and taken notes to keep us on track. As I mentioned previously, I was unable to attend some of the meetings, like the meeting with Mr. Kehoe, but only due to my busy schedule.

6.)  My greatest epiphany
I'd say my greatest epiphany was truly realizing how unwilling some people are towards recycling and composting. Maybe not even unwilling, but how unimportant it can be in some minds. For example, there was always those few people I'd recognize each day who would never recycle properly even with me standing there pointing out the right way. Even the people who would take a moment to listen to me but still go and throw everything away in the trash can. I feel like this shows the true stubbornness of people to change their daily actions. Either that or they're just not educated enough to care. Yet, in whatever case, it does frustrate me that some students and even faculty fail to understand the importance or lack the motive to carry out the actions properly. Although, with that said, I was also surprised at how many students already knew how to correctly compost and recycle. Those students definitely caught my eye and made me happy.

7.) My hopes, wishes, goals for quarter two
In quarter two, I hope to keep a better hold on my personal blog posts and hopefully post weekly like I am supposed to. I also hope that our new composting initiative and students we are paying will be successful in reducing the bags of trash that leave the school. Lastly, I hope that our project for the new stations will happen and the EcoMaine grant will come through.