Since coming to Emory, this WAWA service event was the first off campus volunteering I did since high school. This was significant because after coming to this, I realized just how little I was involved with my community outside of Emory. When Professor Chapman initiated making a circle to introduce oneself, there I learned that there were volunteers from several colleges just as we were doing at Emory. I really liked this exercise because it gave me a chance to get a better understanding of just how diverse in background people were. Knowing that such different people from different places all over the world had come together to contribute to the bettering of nature and ecology was something that made me hopeful for the future of our planet.

After that, the group that I choose to be apart of for the volunteering part of the event was the one that picked invasive species. I was particularly interested in this group because I have recently been going on more nature walks on the trails near my apartment, and when doing this I’ve wanted to know how I could be of use to the land that I so enjoy walking on. Our group learned about English Ivy which is one of the most prominent invasive species at WAWA and Georgia in general. We learned that we must pull them all the way to their roots so that they do not get the chance to take all the nutrients from the trees around them. After this WAWA event, I went on a walk on a nearby trail and saw the extent of the English Ivy on the trees near me as well. This was a special moment for me because it’s rare that things I’ve learned in school usually don’t translate as clearly in my daily life. I think that this volunteer event has taught me how to be more in tune with the nature around me and I am very glad that I was able to learn so much from it.