December 5, 2017
Coming
to my last nature class was a sad moment, indeed. I knew that it would be my
last class ever with Dr. Williams, and although I was hesitant at first, I
really grew to love this class. Everyone’s presentations were so great. I loved
how one group described their experiences at the Nature Center by lessons they
learned, and I loved the way they set up their presentation. Below you will
find my takes on this class and the Nature Center.
Our last day at
the Nature Center was fun. Everyone came together at the end to complete our
last duties as volunteers. I loved just being outside with everyone, in such an
organic classroom atmosphere bonding with one another. As I walked around from
dirt pile to dirt pile, enjoying the warm November day, I could hear all sorts
of different conversations happening amongst unlikely friends. At first, the
one commonality we all had was that we were all enrolled in the same course. We
had no idea what to expect since this was the first semester the course was
being taught, yet we knew Dr. Williams and Cameron would make it intriguing.
Now, after bonding over privet and dirt, friendships have formed among people
who may had never crossed paths. I enjoyed being in the company of my group on
the Prairie Dog Trail. We could easily talk about the highs and lows of our
week while doing somewhat mindless manual labor on our trail. Just being
outside always calmed our nerves, even when we may have been dripping in sweat.
During one of our
last meetings, we edited some of each other’s nature essays. This class was
particularly one of my favorites of the entire semester. It was so interesting
reading everyone’s essays with totally different perspectives on nature. Many
of us come from out of the state of Texas, growing up in different climates and
terrain. Each person is biased towards the familiarity of the nature that surrounded
them while growing up. It was interesting to see how that impacted their
writing style and ideas. I also loved how some even anthropomorphized some
parts of nature. The calming atmosphere of this class, as in every class with
Dr. Williams, is such a breath of fresh air for honors students. Each student
can put their guard down, yet still have meaningful and productive discussions about
nature. No one feels as if they have to force effort into this class. I felt I
could bring meaningful topics about my experiences in nature growing up in
Kansas, as could one student growing up in Washington.
Overall, I truly
learned so much in this class. I never really thought about how fortunate I was
to have grown up in nature, with parents who also loved nature. I was able to freely
explore the outdoors, not realizing how impactful it was on my human
experience. When I came to Texas, at first I missed home dearly because of my
friends and family. But then, I started to realize I also missed Kansas because
of the distinct four seasons, the unreal sunsets, and going fishing with my
dad. I never thought that I would actually miss Kansas for its physical
features. However, I have loved exploring parts of Fort Worth and growing to
love its own unique beauty. Our time spent at the Nature Center really made me
appreciate nature once again. Thank you, Dr. Williams, because the goal you set
out to accomplish was met.
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