Idan Kirshenbaum’s Self Portrait

My experience with science began with biology my freshman year of high school. I soon discovered that biology, while a very useful and important science, did not interest me at all. The following year, I took AP Chemistry. Although it was an extremely difficult course (with an equally difficult AP Exam), I enjoyed chemistry for the most part. My junior year, I was finally able to take the science that I enjoyed the most: physics. Although AP Physics 1 and 2 were difficult, I learned a lot in those classes. My senior year of high school I took AP Environmental Science, a class that I found quite boring. Overall, I enjoyed physics the most because it isn’t an information-retaining science like biology or chemistry, but because I am a math-oriented person, and physics is a science that applies math to the real world, and this helped me understand physics the best.
I would like to get two things from this class. Firstly I would like to acquire an understanding of what we, as humans, do to affect our environment, and how we can fix the negative effects and increase the positive ones. Secondly, I would like a good grade in this class, and I am hoping that the studying and work I will put into this class will yield positive results.
I would like to know how different antibiotics affect plant growth, what antibiotics are found in the soil in different areas, and which antibiotics should we avoid putting in the soil entirely.
I think my fellow students would be interested in finding a way to make composting more accessible and more prevalent.
I am hoping that this class helps me be better able to present scientific data and explain information related to the environment.

Below is a picture of me with my sister who just graduated from UGA at a tailgate that my fraternity had.

First Assignment Self Portrait – Jackson

My previous experiences with science involve a childhood wrapped around my parents’ jobs either teaching environmental science, particularly stream hydrology, or applying science as a civil engineer focused on city water and sewage systems. In high school I took basic biology and chemistry, as well as AP Environmental Science, and in college thus far I have only taken Geology. What I’ve enjoyed most has been that Environmental Science course back in high school, as I felt it dealt with important matters to my and every person’s everyday lives, and appeared more immediately applicable than did chemistry and basic biology.

I would like to get a better understanding of the way the earth functions, as well as how human activies affect these processes.

In relation to antibiotics, I would like to get a better understanding of the spread of resistant bacteria in nature outside of direct human influence – how things are indirectly affected beyond our immediate actions

The issues that appeal to me the most, and therefore I assume appeal to others as well, is how I and they might be affected in the immediate and far off future by current human activities and mistakes.

Learning how to interact with the community and what can be done to help people are things I hope to learn through the service learning projects.

Self-Portrait Reflective Writing Assignment

I have a very beginner-level relationship with science. During high school, I took introductory classes in Biology, Physics, and Chemistry. Of those, I enjoyed Biology the most because of my teacher.

I’d like to learn about environmentally conscious practices and how to apply them as a future policy analyst.

As a student, I’d ask questions about how to increase composting across campus and how to make composting easily accessible to those living in dorms. For this reason, I’d be most interested in projects that involve doing so.

Ways to easily, almost thoughtlessly, contribute environmentally while still focusing on student life because of ways that environmental destruction impacts their individual lives, such as their home and the UGA Campus.

Things I might learn are the importance of civic engagement and how it can positively contribute to aspects of my individual life, such as food, air travel, and more.

John Kutteh- introduction

Hello! My name is John Kutteh and I am a sophomore studying public relations from Memphis, Tennessee. I came into college as an undeclared science major, so I have taken a few semesters of chemistry and some other random science classes here and there. I took an anatomy class in high school that I really enjoyed as well as some other required science classes that were not as interesting, but necessary.
I am very excited for our study of compost. I hope that I learn a lot and am able to use that information to convince the people around me to start composting.
I would like to learn what can be done to remove antibiotics from the soil once they are there. It is a huge problem, but it must have a solution, however difficult it may be.
I think my fellow students would like to learn more in depth about how composting can have a positive impact on the environment and how antibiotics in the soil can have a negative impact on the environment.
I would like to learn how to effectively engage the community in order to enact real change within that community regarding environmental issues.

Kunho Kim Self-Portrait

In high school, I took honors biology and chemistry my freshman and sophomore year, respectively. After that, during my junior and senior years, I took AP Physics 1, AP Physics C, and Environmental Science. I really enjoyed all of my AP science classes because we were able to more deeply discuss topics during class and were able to learn more material beyond the standard curriculum.

I hope to achieve a better understanding of general biology. I have not taken a biology class since freshman year in high school, so I hope that this class will be able to help me stay educated in biology. I also hope that through the projects we will be working on this semester, I will gain more experience working with other people in a group in different environments. Additionally, I hope to develop an appreciation for biology by taking this course.

What exactly is happening that is causing such a large increase in antibacterial resistant bacteria in the soil? Where is it the worst (locally and globally)? What can we do to prevent this? What measures are already being taken and are they effective? How is it affecting other life? What exactly is compostable? What can we do to increase the rate of compost being created?

I think composting would appeal most to the class because it seems slightly less daunting than antibiotics in a sense. Composting is something that anyone can start doing at any time– it seems like a very simple yet effective solution to helping preserve our Earth.

I think that I will be able to learn that everyone can play a part in protecting and improving the environment. If everyone began to recycle, compost, and be more aware of how they are affecting the environment, then I think that positive changes will immediately begin to happen to our environment.

Reflective Writing Assignment 1: Self-Portrait

a & b . I took physics, biology, and chemistry my freshman and sophomore year of high school. At my school, we were allowed to pick one and continue it, so I chose chemistry which I then did for the following two years. I decided to continue chemistry because I excelled in it the most compared to the other sciences, and I also found the real-world implications of the chemistry topics to be very fascinating. This class is my first science class taken in college so far.
I am interested in understanding more about my personal impact along with my fellow humans impact on the earth and perhaps ways in which I as an individual can have an impact on reversing the negative effects of our actions and presence here on the planet. I am looking forward to understanding more about the condition of our planet, because I feel we as a generation are becoming more and more ignorant to it.
What exactly is the role of antibiotics in soil and the process of composing? Where can and do these antibiotics originate from? What are the long-term effects of antibiotics in the soil?
I think that many students are concerned about global warming and the deterioration of the planet, but are reluctant to act because of a lack of knowledge. However, I feel that, with enough repetition and emphasis, students would be most receptive to the issue of global warming.
Perhaps this experience will help me to realize that a single person or idea can actually make an impact on a global issue. I believe that it may also help to teach me how to approach a community atmosphere with major problems such as composting and global warming. I may also learn methods of explaining these topics and making them important to the general public rather than just the science community.

Introduction – Julianna Mallette

I personally love science, and took a lot of elective science courses in highschool, like AP Chemistry and AP Physics.

My favorite of those classes would have to be AP Environmental Science, because the teacher was an amazing person who taught the material in an interesting way.

I would like to expand on what I have previously learned about biology, and hopefully this class will help point me in the direction of what major I should be in.

I would like to ask more questions about what the effects of these antibiotics in the human body are, over long periods of time. It makes me wonder what all these modern chemicals in our food could be doing to us in the long-run.

I think my fellow students would be most interested in methods of making composting not only more accessible, but also more mainstream and appealing to the general population.

I think that through civic engagement and service learning, we will bring new perspective to younger generations, since this problem will only worsen for them as time goes on. Hopefully I will learn how to make strong arguments for our planet’s sake.

Introduction

In high school, I only took a few life sciences. I started with biology freshman year and then took anatomy/physiology senior year. Anatomy ended up being my favorite one, just because of how much I liked the teacher and how enjoyable the class was as a whole. I took physical sciences throughout high school, both APs and normal. However, this will be my first science course of any kind in college. For this class I hope to gain a better knowledge of biology and the environment, and especially how the two of these interact.

To find out more about antibiotics in the soil, I guess I would ask not only how they are getting there, but also what effects they have on the soil and crops. The videos we watched largely addressed carbon, compost, and soil, but never really the harmful effects of antibiotics in the soil.

I think composting would be the best issue to approach other students about. It’s a pretty simple thing to do that can make a big difference, and wouldn’t be a large inconvenience on someone. Because of this, other students would be more likely to listen and even try composting.

The service learning project sounds like it could really help expand the way I think about helping the environment. By contributing to a national database, it shows just how easy it can be to help make a difference. The project also will help demonstrate the effect antibiotics has on the soil in various locations.

Introduction

In high school, my experience with science involved biology, chemistry, and two years of physics. My senior year I took AP Physics, which I enjoyed because it was a challenge yet one in which I was very interested. I enjoyed learning about the science behind everyday things, and I enjoyed it particularly because the things I learned in physics were applicable to everything around me. I hope to get a new perspective on biology in this course, as in high school my biology class only focused on evolution and genetics. I would be interested in working with the Clarke Central High School students because I love to work with other students, and it would be a great opportunity to engage with the local community while learning about biology. I am also interested to learn more specifics about composting. I’ve seen it in action, but I would like to learn more about what is compostable versus what is not and how the process works scientifically. I feel we can all understand the problem of climate change and how our environment is changing, so since we are all directly impacted by this issue, we would all be interested in compositing and other ways to exist while benefiting the environment. With civic engagement, we will learn about local perspectives and what people think about environmental issues. At UGA, we often are isolated to the community of students and their perspectives, so its important to step beyond the boundaries to learn how other people think so we can better teach and learn from one another.

Hi! I’m Josh!

I took honors biology, chemistry, and human anatomy as well as AP Physics. I liked human anatomy a lot because I learned about the anatomy of the human body and the physiological nature of humans which I was able to apply to myself when I go to the gym. I also enjoyed physics because I felt like I had a better understanding of nature of motions by the end of the year. This (BIOL2103H) is my first science class in college.
I want to have fun, get a good grade, and be more environmentally aware so that I can live accordingly.
The outreach with the high school students seems very fun because we get to give back to kids who likely look up to us and we all get to help contribute to a national database, and being apart of something on the national scale is something that is very cool for teens.
Given that our class is an honors course, I would imagine that many of us are interested in creating a new type of project/initiative as we are all very high achievers.
By helping with this service learning, we can learn about how ideas involving civic engagement are thought of and developed, the importance and impact that involving the whole community can have, and about other successful civic engagement programs and the qualities that enabled them to succeed.