September 2019 – Amanda Burns

Practicum Experience Paper 1

This paper is a reflection of my experience during a Practicum project for REL 210, Religion and Ecology, at Agnes Scott College. For the first part of the Practicum, I participated in a visit to Love is Love Farm (Gaia Gardens) with a few other classmates and the gardener at Agnes Scott College, Lois Swords. The second part of the experience was helping out at a Food Waste Audit. This entire experience expanded my understanding of the food system and allowed me to better understand the process from different perspectives- the beginning and the end- from farm to waste. Experiencing the way that different systems within society work (first-hand) can seem daunting, or unnecessary, however it is something that is important to me. It makes me feel as if I’m a part of the system, and therefore I feel as if I can be part of the solution as well. Continuing to experience the different facets of societal “systems” throughout my life is a goal of mine, which I was able to realize during this practicum experience.

Redefining Renfroe- Final Budget Proposal and Cost Benefit Analysis

This document is the final budget proposal that I created for the Renfroe Food Waste Project. I included all of the necessary materials to begin composting, recycling, and using reusable forks in the cafeteria. Our budget was $1000 and the total for this proposal was less than that. (The composting cost and final cost is redacted for privacy reasons.) This left some money left in the budget for signage, recycling bin liners, replacement costs for utensils, etc. Although we did not end up utilizing all of the parts of this proposal for the final project, it was helpful as a starting point.

Chile and Sustainability, Photo Gallery

This is a gallery of some images from my trip to Chile in the Summer of 2019. I went with my classmates and two professors and we explored the cities, the coast, and the desert. We went to Chuquicamata, the biggest open pit copper mine in the world, saw the Tatio Geysers at 6am one morning, explored the Atacama desert, and went to two of the major observatories in Chile, as well as much more. In this gallery, I wanted to highlight some of the major (and minor) sustainability/environmental aspects that I noticed while there.

Redefining Renfroe- Plan and Budget Presentation

This is a selection of the slide presentation for Renfroe Middle School to pitch our plan to reduce their food waste in the school cafeteria. I created this Google Slides presentation and presented the full version of it to Renfroe Middle School parents, administration, and read more

Food Security for Atlanta- Movement Action Plan

This paper was part of my final group project for ANTH 301, Collective Behavior and Social Movements. I worked with 2 other Agnes Scott students to create a Movement Action Plan for a social movement of our choosing. We chose Food Security for our movement, as it encompasses food insecurity, hunger, community involvement, sustainability, as well as many other social and historical factors. This is an academic paper that draws on historical and current social structures to explain the current situation Atlanta is in, ultimately showing how historical factors continue to affect the food sphere in Atlanta and beyond. It also offers a plan to counteract or eliminate some of these patterns of discrimination and food insecurity. This paper showcases not only how we combined many different social and historical concepts to create a straight-forward plan for the social movement, but also how well we worked as a group. By combining our ideas, interests, and expertise in different subject matters, we were able to create a plan that encompasses many different aspects of society and produce a multi-dimensional plan for a movement against food insecurity. In creating this project, I realized how important it is to collaborate with others to create effective, multi-disciplinary plans for action, which is something that I hope to continue to be able to do in the future.

Guided Meditation- Halophytes

This is a guided meditation that I created as a final project for a class called Morphology of Plants on Mount Desert Island, a class I took at College of the Atlantic in Maine (2014). During the presentation, I turned the lights down and asked my peers to close their eyes as they listened to me read.

I originally came up with this idea when I was trying to create an environment that would be least stressful for me, the presenter. However, what I didn’t realize is that it also relieved pressure and stress from the audience as well. When presenting this piece, I noticed the tension in the room recede. After the presentation, the class provided feedback and the consensus was that this presentation was not only effective at introducing information, but also relieving the stress of finals, if just for a few minutes.

The major take-away for me after presenting this project is that thinking creatively about the way information is presented can be both a process of reflection for the individual (in my case, not liking public speaking) and a process of exploration for the audience. After creating and presenting this piece, I realized that I would like to continue to explore ways of sharing information and providing unique experiences for people in the future as well.

Month: September 2019