Bring on the Birdhouses with GreenUp

“Students learn to think critically. The liberal arts are about exploring different points of view and working to answer complex questions, while also acquiring the practical skills necessary for the

physical or technical aspects of a job. “ said Kate Soons, Director of the Health Science Program and Instructor of Biology of the recent launch and publicity of the Emergency Medical Services minor at the College.

Here in the Institute, we’re excited to see this language be used more widely at the intersection of professional practice and the liberal arts.

There’s a role for traditional academe, there’s a role for the traditional technical education, and there’s a role for BOTH/AND. Especially in the complexity of today’s world.

Perhaps a little math equation will help understand these principles that happen to also underpin David Kolb‘s Experiential Learning Theory, the guiding light of our work at The Patrick ’61 and Marcelle Leahy Institute for the Environment :

Formal Education + Formative Experience = Transformative Student Experience & Outcomes

Birdhouses allow us a bite sized perspective of this big and often too heady theoretical work. Let’s dig in!

If you look back a few blog posts, you’ll see our graduate assistant, George, and the I4E summer stewards working hard making birdhouses for the Natural Area. Now that the rest of the student body is back on campus, we were able to continue this initiative and install these birdhouses! Saint Michael’s College environmental club, Green Up, started their year off strong, meeting within the first week of classes and sharing about the need to install the birdhouses. The club loved the idea of helping the I4E complete this project and quickly set an installation date.

Sunday September 12th, eight undergraduate students, as well as our graduate assistant George trekked into the Natural Area with drills, ladders, and birdhouses to install. During this time, the group was able to put up nine birdhouses across three different zones of the natural area. These houses provide spaces for 12 different species of birds and encourage biodiversity in our natural area. The students of Green Up were so excited to get out on our campus and leave a positive environmental impact. And they were inspired to carry on the bird house project! Green Up met with George again on September 28 in the Institute for the Environment office space to build more houses to install in the Natural Area!

If you have interest in learning how to build these houses and getting involved with our environmental team, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Look to our and Green Up’s social media for the next install date!