Final Project Reflection – Harina Somasundaram

The outreach project I choose to work on was the Rooker Hall Composting Initiative. This was aimed to educate RAs about composting within dorms so they could take that to residents and carry it out. This would start within the ECV community then expand all across campus.
In order to execute this project as a class we had to research what to compost, what not to compost, the easiest way to store and collect compost in the dorm, and how compost can help the environment and soil. My partner and I focused on how to make compost. This included what to compost, what not to compost, and how to take care of the pile. Our research included using multiple sources then compiling it all on one page in the wordpress sight for future reference.
Some of the things that were highlighted through the presentation was: Why is composting important, What to and not to compost, Examples of composting already happening, finally How to collect all the compost. Presenting this material allowed me to understand the material much better due to being put in a situation to explain it and sell it to others so they can implement this initiative. It also made me dig deeper and look into the scope of the office of sustainability. The information was put together with guidance from Christy Tweedy.
1. Why: Composting benefits our environment by improving soil/water quality, decreasing methane, helping with overall global warming. It is also a safe waste disposal mechanism.
2. Do’s: Anything organic – vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, plants or leaves, egg shells, shredded paper, dryer lint, hair, and cardboard.
3. Dont’s: Glossy or colored paper, bones, feces, metals, plastics. Meat is also not recommended as it attracts vermin
4. Examples: All food waste from the UGA dining halls is currently composted then sent to the bioconversion center. Then used around campus. This shows how composting is helpful.
5. Collection: Electric Bike – It is owned by the office of sustainability and run by interns. The bike will be used to collect the compost from the bin in the lobby of Rooker Hall on Fridays at noon.
This presentation proved to be intellectually stimulating because many of the RAs were very involved and asking questions. This showed that they were thinking about composting in a new way. They actually started to think this idea was practical, hence we sold it to them correctly. Our presentation was relevant because the RA’s were the people who would take it to the residents for implementation and educate the residents. From our eyes the RA’s were the first step to implementation. Our presentation was creative because it included a presentation which illustrated our ideas, we also had flyers made that made it easier for RAs to understand what needed to be done. We also had pictures of the bike and the green bin as a prop.
I did not think this presentation would have much of an impact on the RAs and was thinking to myself “which college student actually cares about composting” as I thought when I started this out reach project. To my surprise, the RAs were actually very interested as they were asking some very in-depth questions and I saw some of them even taking notes. This makes me believe that our initiative will actually be useful and carried through. I started to sense myself becoming more confident as the presentation went on and the RAs started asking questions which I actually new the answer too.As far as technology goes, I learned to come with presentation material like in this case there is not a projector. So maybe print out the slides.
I believe the first thing we as a group adapted to was the style of presentation, given there was not a projector and that was what we were assuming. I personally adapted to the audience when I saw that they were more involved than I thought they would be. I tried to answer a few questions. Another thing I believe our group adapted to well was when they started asking questions in the middle and we had to steer away from the presentation order we had planned and present as we answered questions. This definitely kept the audience more engaged. I learned to research the topic a little bit more in depth than whats on the presentation next time so that adapting is a bit easier and I won’t have to look at the slides all the time.
If given another chance, I would know the information on all the slides better rather than just focusing on my slides because there may come a point where we may not have a way to present the visual. I would also want to give more time for questions from RAs and start the presentation my letting them know that we will present then take questions at the end. I would like to do this because many of their questions were covered in future slides and this way we can also get our point across without being flustered.
This experience gave me a “beyond the classroom” outlook. It showed me how what I am learning can be applied. Analyzing the audience while presenting and adapting helped me understand what kind of presenter I am and how I can grow. It also helped me see the scope of this project. Forming a presentation gave me a deeper understanding of the topic and aspects beyond the topic like the office of sustainability. I am a very engineering/corporate minded person so this outreach made me step out of my comfort zone and pursue a topic I usually would not give a second thought too.
I can use this information to practice composting myself and to teach sustainable practices to others. This experience also taught me to not judge the audience to hard before walking into the room. The presentation itself taught me to give a strong introduction so you control the presentation and not the audience.
Due to presenting and only talking on what I personally researched, I believe I came across confident. Next time I would like to be able to answer more questions to show that I am more involved than just my part — to do this I plan on glancing over all parts before the presentation.
This assignment was effective because it made me learn the content at a deeper level. The presentation helped me compile the content and figure out whats actually important and what needs to be focused on. I liked the relevance of the topic due to being a student living in Rooker. The feedback from the RAs allowed be to believe the impact we actually had due to seeing their interest.

Composting Infographic – Harina Somasundaram

What: This infographic is simple yet appealing and showcases all 3 effective forms of delivery. It is intellectually stimulating because it offers the information in a step by step process with pictures allowing the reader to easily comprehend and take action. It also shows relevancy to the audience by mentioning how compost can help their personal garden in step 6. Lastly, it is creative because at a glance the audience can understand the purpose and what to do but at the same time information is not compromised — everything from how to compost, do’s and don’ts of what should be put in compost, and different types of composting is included.

Gut: The graphic invoked a feeling of practicality allowing taking action to be easy. By showing step to step procedure with few words and pictures, it showcased that composting is not much extra work and is purposeful. The picture in step 6 showcased the usefulness in a glance, making people want to compost. It was pleasing to read, because of the way the infographic was set up – easy terms and not cluttered with words — extra stuff put on the bottom and important things boxed.

So What: Surprisingly, I had never thought that making compost was so easy and never realized the fruitful results it has – such as being able use it as fertilizer in my own garden. I thought it was too much work and never really saw the short-term benefit. This also seems like a financially and environmentally a good option due to being able to save money on fertilizers and recycling organic material. The source is pbs.com/nature. With this source, during class time we could go to this website and find more information on soil/composting and maybe even be able to elaborate on this infographic.

Now What: I think that making the steps of how to compost and what to compost is very important when talking to college students living in Rooker Hall/ECV community because they do not have the time to do research and if it is too complicated — students will not take part in the activity. Students have a lot going on in their day to day so we need to highlight purposeful and relevant information to them when giving them tasks. These things have not really come to light because we are all focusing on the research of composting that we are not looking at the delivery and outcome aspect.

Group 2: Creating Compost(Harina and Greg)

Composting is very important because of what it gives back to nature. It enables for healthy plant growth. From our research we found that composting involves: piling up scraps of organic material à monitoring moisture and temperature à then turning the pile to expose all edges. We also have to closely monitor the carbon: nitrogen ratio to maintain 25 – 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen.

Carbon mainly comes from vegetation whereas Nitrogen is created through the little bit of animal product and environment. In a pile you should always limit the amount of animal product because you don’t want to draw rats and the pile will be sitting there for a long time.

The most important aspects to making compost would be maintaining moisture and temperature. This is done by turning the pile. This is also affected by the weather outside.

UGArden – Harina Som

In this picture I see a pile of compost and the steps the compost pile goes through to get to the end goal which can be seen towards the back of the picture. The end goal is a pile of decomposed material which is essentially fertlizer.
One striking thing I noticed in this picture was the amount of work a pile of compost has to go through to become a pile of fertlizer. In this picture you can see 4 seperate bariers before the pile at the end, this is essentially 4 seperate steps the pile in the front goes though so it can be used as fertilizer.
I think when someone looks at this picture first, they will just see the pile in the front which they will assume to be trash and won’t really see the ending result which is a compost pile. Before the vist, if I saw this picture, I would not notice the amount of work that goes into composting, I always just thought the compust pile is formed by itself by putting organic material in a pile. I did not know there were so many factors that have to be controlled sush as sunlight, moisture, temperature, ext..
When I look at this picture, I feel good to be a part of the UGA community. This garden took what was once used as barriers during war and now uses them as barriers between each stage while preventing high moisture and control temperatures. They are also essentially taking organic waste material and making it useful by practicing composting, so they can put that back into the system to get more fruitful results. I love how the UGA community practices sustanibility in every little way.
I think this picture is really about showing the work behind composting while illustrating each step in detail. Then showing the timline of composting from the first stage to the final stage. This picture also shows the variety of things that can be composted and if you really look into it — you can see that this pile does not involve animals except for egg shells. This shows that the pile is carbon heavy and nitrogen light because it is plat based.

Introductions – Harina Som

My name is Harina and I am a second year honors student pursuing the dual degree program in Computer Engineering and M.B.A.

I enjoy science, in high school I took AP Physics and AP Chemistry. Then in college I have taken a few more Physics courses required for my engineering degree. I enjoy Physics the most because to me Physics seems very logical and is a science used to explain life’s phenomenons such as gravity.
From this course, I would like to get a deeper real world understanding of Biology because the last Biology class I took was honors bio in 9th grade, I have never taken a higher level bio class. Biology was always the science that challenged me the most. Being an engineer, I like to see the logical process when I am learning something which I was not able to see with bio. So through this class I want to get a logical understanding of the subject.
I would ask questions centered around why and how. Such as why are there antibiotics in soil, how does this happen. I believe this will help me get a logical understanding.
I believe students these days like to think about the big picture and how a little thing makes a big difference. So I believe students will want to know how these antibiotics found in soil can help save people and make a positive impact on the world.
I believe I will learn how one persons service can have such a big impact. Then this will lead me to continue to take part in service projects and by others seeing the difference my service is making, they will join in as well.