For some of our AP Environmental Science students, the mission of their spring project was to go out into the community and make a difference. 

Their project goal was to make a measurable improvement in the environment or in the sustainability practices of community residents.

They identified a problem, designed a solution, created and implemented an action plan to achieve that solution, and measured and documented their efforts. 

Although these efforts were sometimes challenging, the students were able to learn from their mistakes and overcome those challenges.  In the process, they learned a lot about themselves and the larger world in which they live, and helped the planet at the same time.

Below you can learn about some of the projects from students in their own words.

Names of Group Members:
Neeku Hadadnejad, Caroline London, Sam Fabricant, Grant Williams, McKenzie Bishop

Location:
Heard Nature Museum, 1 Nature Pl, McKinney, TX 75069

Project Description:
The problem we identified was that in the butterfly garden at the Heard Nature Museum,

• It takes too long to get clean water for the butterflies to the butterfly pond .
• There is chlorine in the current water hose that they use and so, the water must sit for 24 hours before being distributed to the butterflies.
• A volunteer must fill up a bucket every couple of days with the water to make sure it is the butterflies receive safe non-chlorinated water.

The goal of our project was to find an efficient way to have rain water go directly to the butterfly pond without delay and constant maintenance.  To accomplish our goal, we created a rainwater catchment system. First we researched a plan in order to create a catchment system, which included calculating the catchment surface area and the materials needed to build it. This included building a frame, attaching galvanized metal to the top of the frame, and building a gutter to attach to the roof system of our entire catchment system. We then attached a downspout to the gutter which led to the rain barrel, the unit in which the water was being held for use. Some of the challenges we faced were minimizing runoff, getting our structure to fit on to the existing frame, and collecting the maximum amount of water.  In the end, we were successful in creating a rainwater catchment system that functioned and satisfied the museum.

An unexpected lesson we learned from this project was to not procrastinate.  The project was much more tedious than we expected and we had to do much more towards the end than we anticipated. If we had consolidated an idea earlier it could have been much more stress free.

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Names of Group Members:
Jonathan Yang, Malcolm Russell, Sacheth Swaminathan, Ian Howell, Hannah Kaschmitter

Location:
Oak Point Park, 5901 Los Rios Blvd, Plano, TX 75074

Project Description:
The problem we identified was that there were a significant number of bluebirds at Oak Point, but there were not enough bluebird houses for them to live in. In order to facilitate the population of bluebirds, so that they had viable places to breed and nest, more bluebird houses were needed. The goal of our project was to build two bluebird houses and implement them at Oak Point in time for their mating season. Another goal of our project was just to understand more about bluebirds and their behaviors and functions in the environment.

To accomplish our goal, we really had to work with each other and work with Kym Hughes, with the City of Plano, effectively and efficiently. There were supplies we needed to obtain, such as the wood and nails. Our group set up deadlines and distributed the workload evenly among most members so that we could finish our project in a timely manner. Some of the challenges we faced stemmed from the actual wood we used, in the fact that the wood easily splintered and warped. There were also human factors with scheduling and planning dates where we could all work together. In the end, we successfully built two working bluebird houses. We implemented them at Oak Point Nature Preserve in areas that were in need of habitats.

An unexpected lesson we learned from this project was that it is extremely difficult to actually bring an idea into fruition. There’s a lot of aspects of a project that needs to be covered and planned for, and any gap in that thinking causes a lot of problems down the road. Really spending the time in the beginning to plan everything out, set deadlines, and work out what supplies we needed is pivotal in a project’s success.

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Names of Group Members:
Meaghan Vinyard, Azan Muhammed, Rohan Govathoti, Tetsuya Hung, Henry Anderson

Location:
Oak Point Park, 5901 Los Rios Blvd, Plano, TX 75074

Project Description:
The problem we identified was: Privet plants, an invasive species of plants to the area, needed to be removed, and replaced with native plants, such as the possumhaw holly.  The goal of our project was: to remove the invasive plants (privet) and replace them with possumhaw holly seeds. To accomplish our goal, we cut down the invasive plants and sprayed them with pesticides, and we crushed berries of the possumhaw holly and planted them in replacement of the privet.  Some of the challenges we faced were: Communicating with Parks & Rec staff proved to be a difficult task. Monitoring the growth of the possumhaw hollies was also a challenge since they grow at a very slow rate. In the end, there were no signs of the privet growing, but the possumhaw holly is still taking time to grow.

An unexpected lesson we learned from this project was: Everyone runs on a different schedule. Our group had different schedules and plans for their days, but we’ve managed to make progress on the project. Another lesson we learned was that even the smallest projects can make a big difference. Although we planned on doing something big to begin with, none of our initial proposals made it through. However, the final project that we initiated still made a big difference.

Names of Group Members:
Alexis King, Tyler Edmonson, Madeline Urcuyo, and Sheryl Seeyave

Location:
Plano Senior High School (all buildings), 2200 Independence Parkway, Plano, TX 75075

Project Description:
Throughout our school campus, there are many students that do not use the recycling bins properly leading to less materials going into recycling and instead having been “contaminated” must be thrown in the trash. Recycling is the simple key to reducing our waste! The goal of our project is to educate the public on the importance of recycling within our school and to provide means for others who want to recycle through media approach and recycling incentives. We have collected data from various recycling bins throughout our school campus and was able to observe the percentage of recyclable and non-recyclable items in all bins. Meet with Ms. Warhoftig to discuss ways to approach student body with our recycling initiative. Developed creative media video to be shown to all students about our “Pie in the Face” stand to test recycling knowledge. Our “Pie in the Face” Stay Day stand was success! Lastly, we obtained new data results after Stay Day to see if there was any change in recycling and trash cans. Some of the challenges we faced were people taking advantage of our recycling booth. For our incentive procedure, we reached out to people but never got a response back. Lastly, we had many complications with communicating with the cafeteria manager for our incentive procedure idea. In the end, our data was increased of 25% in recyclable materials.

The most unexpected lesson that we learned from the project is how one small initiative can transform into an idea that everyone will want to participate in. In the beginning of this project, we mainly thought that our project approach wouldn’t get the attention of the student body with many students not caring/paying attention to the importance of recycling on our environment. After we came up with the idea of developing a Stay Day stand to promote what is actually recyclable, we saw that people wanted to know the importance of recycling and ways to implement recycling more in their everyday life.

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Names of Group Members:
Jay Pierce, Camryn Clemons, Azariah Groves , Zarifa Mosadeqque

Location:
Kinder Care Learning Center, 6525 Custer Road, Plano, TX

Project Description:
We wanted to help honor the Mayors Pledge signed by the Mayor of the City of Plano by building a monarch garden. The problem that we identified was that monarch butterflies have been declining in Texas. Our goal within the project was to successfully make a monarch butterfly attraction garden and to involve preschool students in an educational lesson on the “life cycle of a monarch butterfly”.  To accomplish our goal, we planned for the kids is to paste pictures of the life cycle of a butterfly onto a poster. They learned about each cycle of the butterfly (including egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly) while pasting the pictures so that they could visually understand what happens at each stage of a monarch's life. After that we told them why the life of a monarch is important towards the environment, while also showing them the reason behind the mayors pledge. Also we planted a butterfly garden so the students at the location will be able to go out and see the garden every day during their outside recess or during their upcoming lesson on butterflies.  Some of the challenges we faced were working out the details of the garden with our community partner.

An unexpected lesson we learned from this project was the concept of good time management and communication. Finding people willing to have a garden installed was very difficult, it was very hard finding participants willing to put up the land. We learned how to communicate with our group members and how to manage time with all of them to be able to meet up to plant the garden. We also learned how to split up work equally.

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