Saturday, April 30, 2011

More Beach Pictures!






More pictures!

Heal the Bay!






It has taken me a long time to post, but I'm finally ready. As everyone else said, it was really hot at the beach that day. When we first showed up I looked at all the trash in the parking lot and I thought "Wow...we've got lots to do," but by the end of the clean-up I was having a hard time finding any trash! That's when I knew we had done a good job. It was great to see my students and Lollie Ragana's class all working so hard. I only got to collect one bag, butI did find a plastic sandal. Whenever I go to a clean up I seem to find one shoe--maybe I should start saving them and trying to find pairs! I was also really happy to see my friends Iris and Yolanda made it to the beach. I also really love the plastic turtle someone found and gave to me. I keep him with my turtle collection to remind me that turtles are great, but plastic turtles on the beach are trash (and real sea turtles have lots of problems from plastic). The whole time I was cleaning I kept thinking about Dave from Algalita. When he talked to us about plastic in the ocean he showed us his red plastic bottle cap--and I just kept finding them! It helped me remember that this wasn't just about having fun at the beach, but about something really important. Today we cleaned the L. A. River, and I hope it doesn't take me so long to get the next post up. Thanks to all the students who came out to Dockweiler Beach. You did a great job!
Jenny

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Hello =)



Hi, my name is Nayeli Hernandez. I decided to attend the beach clean-up at Dockweiler Beach this past weekend. It was a very beautiful day by the way. I should have gone in the water and play for a bit, but I didn't. Anyways, this was my second time participating in a beach clean-up. My first experience was much more awesome, but it is really nice to know that I was doing something good for the environment, along with other students from CSULA.

Obviously, there was trash at the beach. There were candy wrappers, juice/water bottles, bottle caps, cigarettes, pieces of Styrofoam (which is one of the very harmful products to animals and hard to get rid of), and plastic bags. Also, there was socks at the beach and some colorful ones! There were all sorts of trash and the beach looked clean. I have to admit, participating in this activity has changed my habits even more! I tend not litter anymore or at least not as much, but it's a difference that I will be accomplishing every time. =D

This activity relates to our class because we have read texts that deal with the environment. Throughout this year, we were assigned to do essays that involved the environment's status such as a polluted environment. For example, trash being around in public places is a danger to our world and animals today. It is for the sake of our animals and even ourselves that we need make a difference in our world. =)
Hi my name is Vanessa I'm one of Jenny Hick's student's and I attended to the Heal the Bay beach clean up. It was one of the best experiences that i had and that I contribute to for a nice cause. It was nice knowing that with a bit from the help that i did the beach is not as dirty as it was. There were somethings that i found at the beach that I didnt expect to find like a condom or even beer cans everywhere. The most important thing that i learned with this expericence is that our environment needs a lot of help from us and it also gave me more courage to volunteer in causes like this to make our environment a better place. :D

Hi

My name is Nicholas Nolasco and this is my first year attending CSULA. I attended the Dockweiler beach clean up for Mrs. Hicks service learning and I must say that I never knew there could be so much litter on the beach! I found all sorts of trash such as bottlecaps, plastic cups, plastic forks, cardboard and so many pairs of socks! This cleanup assignment relates to our class because every assignment we had to turn in was dealing with the environment and pollution. I have learned that we can actually do something about cleaning up pollution, which in this case was trash left on the beach. Overall, the service learning assignment was fun and it felt really good to clean up the environment. :)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011



Hello:)
My name is Laura Rodriguez, I am a full time student at CSULA, and I happen to be Prof. Hicks' student. Almost a week ago on Saturday (4/16/11), I attended the 'Heal the Bay' project. The event was held at Dockweiler State Beach, and I must say that I enjoyed it. The purpose of this even was to gather a group of people and clean the beach. This was done to make a difference, and save some lives. Trash being left on the beach, believe it or not, harms our sea creatures and our birds directly, and eventually moves up the food chain. These poor animals consume most of the trash being left on the beach, because it eventually gets into the ocean. This is a major hazard.

I arrived at the beach with my two best friends. We were greeted, and were immediately instructed what we would be doing. At the beach, I noticed that there was a lot of trash scattered around, and most of it was plastic. Plastic is a substance that is really hard to get rid of especially once it is composed. It creates major problems for our environment.

I have been a student in Prof. Hicks' classes since the fall, and all through out these classes our topics have always been related to the environment. No matter what we are talking about, everything has to do with the environment. The environment can be categorized everywhere, from open land to busy cities. The environment is all around us, thus, we affect it the most. The beach is only a portion of how we affect it.

I have learned that not everyone thinks the same, in the sense that everyone has their own opinions. In addition, this is our home, so it is up to us to help it. We have to create the difference, and this event is a perfect example as to how we can help.

Hello EVERYONE!(:

My name is Cindy, and I'm 19 years old. I have a job, I'm a full time student, and I like to go out and enjoy my free time with my loved ones. Saturday 4/16/11, I attended a beach clean-up at Dockweiler State Beach, and I feel good about myself because once we got there we received the instructions to clean the beach right away. There was a lot of trash on the beach, and because we had plenty of other people helping as well, we did get a lot of trash picked up. What I noticed there was a lot of was plastic, which is one of the worst components that affect our environment, since its something that's so hard to get rid of once its composed.
The way the beach clean-up relates to what we've read in class is because it has to do with the environment. We have been speaking of the environment since we started in fall, and the cool part about it is it's been in different aspects. The different ways they express the environment is the hazards, nature, cleanliness, trash, how they admire the environment, how it has changed throughout the years, and as we can see everyone has a different opinion, or everyone has had their different experience. It's good to read about different ideas people have towards the environment and compare them to mine.
What I learned is that everyone has a different opinion towards the environment, but it's up to us to take matters into our own hands and do something for the environment. Not only does it make a difference for the environment, but it makes a difference in ourselves. It makes you feel good about yourself (:

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Welcome


Welcome to the blog! If you are one of my students and you are reading this--you made it! Please go ahead and post. For others, this blog is for my pilot program Stretch Composition classes at CSULA. We have been studying the environment all year and this spring we will be engaging in service learning projects to help us get involved with the community. We will be cleaning up Dockweiler Beach, helping the Friends of the LA River with their clean up, and working at the Solano Community Garden. As part of their service learning commitment my students are required to share their experiences on this blog. I hope that my students learn what I already know: it may feel that we are helpless, but every thing we do counts, and we can make a difference!