savethemangrove

[savethemangrove]

Stakeholders

Work collaboratively - Ethical implications - Global importance // Reflective - Principled - Thinker - Caring - Communicator

Stakeholders are people affected by a company or project. In our project, we have several different stakeholders that hold different positions and our actions as a team can have an effect on them. To analyze the stakeholders of my project, I started out by categorizing them in a stakeholder map:

The stakeholder map has 4 quadrants, each one representing a position of power and interest of the stakeholder in the project. The top right corner represents high power and high interest, the top left corner represents high power but low interest, the bottom right corner represents high interest but low power and the bottom left corner represents low interest and low power. Next up I will analyze each stakeholder and how my project or my actions affects them.

Ms. Amy is the CAS coordinator so she is interested in our project but she also has a lot of power, therefore she can interfere in our plans our helps us when we need it. My project can affect Miss Amy in different ways because she is the coordinator so she can control a large portion of my project and that means that what we do affects her in her job.

Connect Ocean will be one of the biggest parts of our project because we are planning to work in collaboration with them to create events with their help in order to have reliable educational material as well as present experts to provide support at the events. They have high interest in our project because they also have their own mangrove/intertidal zone courses and they would like to involve us in their projects. They also possess high power over our project because they’re experts and they’re here to help, so if we want a successful project, we have to listen to them, and without them, our project wouldn’t be as strong because we wouldn’t have such scientific support so their expertise is important for us. We need their help for the big Mangrove Explorer Weekend in terms of planning and actually being there to teach and help us guide the rest of the people; the event will be the most important aspect of my project, which is just another reason why ConnectOcean has such power over the outcomes of this project. The project affects ConnectOcean in a positive way because it opens up an opportunity to work collaboratively for a good cause and bring together community members at fun but educational events. Our project can also affect ConnectOcean in another great way by marketing because we plan on promoting them on our social media and at events, so this could help them grow as an organization.

I included Sebas and Mayan in this quadrant because currently they are the leaders of the project, therefore they have high power and high interest over me because I will soon be taking over their work once they conclude their CAS experience and graduate from La Paz. They are the ones giving me orders and deciding on the next steps for the project, so currently they hold the most authority over me. My actions affect Sebas and Mayan because it is their project too so I obviously wouldn’t want to mess up their CAS experience. 

I classified the government as high power and low interest because they clearly have other more important things to cake care of, but the government has the highest power over anything we do because any wrong actions we take could result in awful consequences and when dealing with the environment it is vital to consider ethical implications and respect the law. The government isn’t necessarily affected by anything we do unless we break laws because once again, our small scale project is not something too important for them.

Biologists are in the high interest and low power category because they might be looking into our project and our data could be helpful for them but they don’t necessarily have any power over us unless it is an extreme case in which we are doing something wrong to the environment. We should keep biologists, especially Jemma, informed about our project because it is their area of interest and they could potentially help us out. Our project can affect them in positive ways by sharing data with them and helping them with experiments or observations of mangroves.

Students and community members are also under high interest and low power because our project affects their community directly, even if they don’t realize it, and students should be interested in the project because they can learn from it but also participate and it could count as volunteering. The reason I believe they don’t have much power over us is because we are working for the environment, and not for them, so if they are against us, we could probably compromise something anyways, but they have to understand that our decisions are focused on benefiting the environment. Our project affects them because it opens a space for them to get involved and help the environment, as well as learn about it and its importance. 

I said members of other communities and teachers are under low power and low influence because even if they are somewhat interested in what we are doing for the environment, they aren’t as interested as the other stakeholders I have listed. They don’t have any power over us because they aren’t really a part of the project. The only way I think they will be affected by our project is by getting inspired or motivated by our work and get interested in our project; they could also try it out in their own communities and work with us but if this were to happen, they would switch to a more important quadrant on the stakeholder map.

This week has been stormy so one afternoon I decided to take a walk with my mom down to the beach to check it out. The water was brown, the waves were messy, the beach was covered in driftwood and debris, there were new rocks uncovered and the sky was filled with clouds. On the way back, I checked out the mangroves that we had planted a really long time ago, and it made me so happy to see they were growing new branches and leaves! There is also a lot of natural reforestation going on, but sadly a lot of them are growing under our wooden bridge, so I’ve been thinking and maybe one day we will have to go down there and transplant those to another area where they have space to grow and receive sufficient sunlight. The only implication I came up with is that since they are so bushy and growing close to each other, their root systems might be intertwined and by trying to transplant them, we might break the roots. I will be bringing this up to my team and we can discuss about it in order to make a decision. Here are some pictures of the mangrove that I took that day:

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Mangrove restoration weekend sept. 29th 2018

Global importance - Ethical implications - Commitment and perseverance - Plan & Initiate - Working collaboratively - Strengths & areas for growth // Reflective - Caring- Thinker - Principled- Open-minded

I plan on making a difference in my community by helping the mangrove restore itself to the way it was before the earthquake in 2012. I think giving back to the environment is the best way to give back to the community because it is our home, it targets and benefits everyone. Keeping the mangrove healthy will contribute to the community in many ways as I have mentioned before in many of my posts, but mainly helping with filtering air, water and being nurseries to many species, providing a richer environment. This demonstrates that my project engages in global significance because mangroves are important ecosystems and taking care of them with the help of the community will help work towards a cleaner, better planet for future generations.

What I am doing to create change is continue Sebastian’s project and I am looking forward to involving the local community more in order to inspire others and open up a space for people to do something for the environment. Sometimes people want to help but they don’t know how, so this is a great option. I have also had people asking how they can contribute if they don’t live near by, and it just shows that there are people out there willing to help. On the day of the event, many community members showed up and if they weren’t able to come, they still asked me about it afterwards and I was so proud that so many people were showing interest and willingness to collaborate to the project.

In order to work with the community and receive help from other communities, there is a lot of work to be done to the project. The project has to be more developed and structured in order to publish it neatly to the community so people start to gain more interest and will support us. The way to do this will mostly be through social media. The day of the event I posted a picture on the Cabinas Las Olas instagram that I am now managing for my family’s business and I got a lot of responses from random people asking how they could help, I don’t have a plan yet for this but as a team we had talked about creating an online funding page where people can donate so once we figure this out and market it more, I’m sure it’ll be successful because many people are looking forward to collaborating and we could spread the word across the world and also challenge others to get inspired and act upon our project. The main obstacle to this would be actually creating all the funding pages and structuring our project since it currently relies more in the hands of Sebas and Mayan, so we are following what they want and once it falls into our hands, Felipe and I can take it a step further and also emphasize on the collaboration with ConnectOcean because it is actually so important. Ernst from ConnectOcean mentioned getting certified at some famous university, perhaps MIT, on their mangrove course so that when we implement it on our big event next year, people can actually get a certification for it, which is so awesome and will definitely make things more official and attract more people to the event! The technical work will get complicated but we will work through this by getting help from Ernst who is pretty much an expert with stuff like this and who is passionate about our project and is willing to help us. We can also find a lot of information online about creating funding pages and marketing if we need to, but we have already started to practice through our project instagram and I can always help spread the word through Cabinas Las Olas instagram and facebook because I know my dad is also passionate and would love to help and watch the project grow.

The following images are from our event last weekend; our team, working in the mud, and filling up the nursery! I’m incredibly grateful for all the support we received and I can’t wait to do this on a bigger scale, getting more people involved and creating a larger (positive) impact on the environment!

[savethemangrove]

The impossible

Strengths and areas for growth - New challenges and new skills - Work collaboratively - Commitment and perseverance - Global importance - Plan and initiate //  Reflective - Open-minded - Communicator

In every project there will be an ‘impossible’, or multiple of them. Our biggest impossible is seeing a difference with the work we put into the mangrove. Mangroves take years to grow and it will be a long time before we’re able to notice a significant difference. Our goal is to do everything we can in our power to help the mangrove restoration process. We can’t turn the mangrove green again in only 18 months, but we hope to collect and plant as many seeds as we can as well as inspire others to continue carrying out the project to maintain the mangrove green and healthy. This will take a lot of commitment and perseverance because sometimes it is difficult to follow through with a project when you don’t see direct results right away. It will also take a lot of team work to be able to complete all the tasks we have in mind for planting and keeping up the nursery. We will persevere through the tough parts because we have a lot of support from the community to do something for the planet considering the global importance of mangroves during these times of climate change. The small successes we will be able to celebrate are the success rates of our seedlings and the turnouts of our events. We will work with the community to gain support and funding in order to accomplish our goal of about 1,000 seeds and we can do this through social media and sharing our project because there are many people interested in helping around the world.

On the 29th of September, we had our mangrove community event, and it was a huge success! Although we may have had some communication issues along the way are some stressful times planning, the event turned out great! I woke up at 4:30 am to go surf, at 8:00 I ran back home and got ready to meet with the team. They arrived at my house and for 45 minutes we were running around everywhere getting the materials prepared while the kitchen team at Las Olas took care of the fruits and drinks so they were ready for us after the hard work. At 9:00 the ConnectOcean members were the first to arrive, which was perfect so we could coordinate in which teams they’d be spread out and what they had to speak about during the intro. We anxiously waited for everyone else to arrive as this was our first big event involving the community. Once everyone had showed up, Mayan talked about the project, Felipe and I explained what happened to the mangrove and why it died, and Cio (one of the ConnectOcean members) gave a really good talk about the importance of mangroves and why our efforts to conserve it are necessary. We split up the groups and got to work! Sebas took a few people down to another part of the mangrove near the river mouth to pick up seeds, while Mayan took another group to plant the seeds that had roots and Felipe and I had the largest group filling up bags with mud and taking them up to place neatly in the nursery so they were ready for when the seeds arrived.

My group started off working strong, filling many bags of mud, but it was the most exhausting task and people gradually started leaving, which was a bummer because we offered them the fruits and drinks at the restaurant but barely of them passed by and at the end we had a bunch of leftovers. After 3 long hours of hard work and music and complaints about the mud or the work, we were finally able to conclude the event and went to the restaurant for the refreshments. The ConnectOcean team helped us by making holes in the containers we already had from last time with mangroves because they were filled with water and it had no way out. I was bathed in mud and I couldn’t wait to go surfing! Here is a picture of our final accomplishments:

We got feedback about the event from the community members which was helpful so next time we can be more effective with our work, but overall it was successful and we hope to do something like this again soon to finish filling up our nursery. Dylan was our photographer for the entire event and at the end Felipe and him interviewed some people so there will be more pictures and videos coming soon, but overall I want to thank the community and I am very grateful for the effort everyone put in and the willingness to help because without everyone, this wouldn’t have been possible because it is labor intensive and time consuming so working as a team was incredible. Here is a picture my dad took from his new drone of the group which was planting the seeds, it is not the best quality because Tumblr can’t upload any heavier images but soon I will share more from the event:

[savethemangrove]

Communication

Strengths and areas for growth - Work collaboratively - Commitment and perseverance - Global importance - Ethical implications - Plan and initiate // Reflective - Thinker - Knowledgeable - Communicator

Communication in our team is a complicated subject. There is a lot of coordinating and changing dates or plans in our project at this point and the communication is getting a little unclear. Sebas and Mayan make all of the decisions while Felipe and I have to do what they say, which at times gets uncomfortable because I like to take initiative and advance with new ideas but I can’t continue without their approval and my ideas don’t usually follow with what they want. My role in this project is different than in other projects because I just have to follow directions, while in other cases I’m usually the one taking leadership. This changes the communication style because there isn’t much communicating to do on my part, at this stage it is mostly listening and following orders. The fact that I am close friends with one of the leaders also changes the communication style because it is informal and there is more joking around or teasing. Once Mayan and Sebas leave, I will be in charge of the project and I will have much more communicating to do within my internal stakeholders as well as the outer world because we’ll be starting the planning stage for the Mangrove Explorer Weekend as well as creating signs for informing the public visiting Avellanas. This project is time consuming because there are a lot of different steps to take but it takes commitment as well as patience for dealing with everyone and every factor that can affect our final outcome.

This week, I was assigned the following task/homework:

I communicated with Sebas through the phone about what I had to do which wasn’t exactly the most effective method because it led to a little disagreement. As I mentioned before, knowing him well and being friends can be an advantage for the project to flow nicely but can also create some silly conflict from time to time. During school we don’t always have the chance to communicate clearly, which is why I thought meeting every Wednesday would be a good idea so we can continue with the planning of our project and have all team members informed, but some members think the meetings are unnecessary so we’re not having them often anymore.

During the weekend, I communicated with my fellow teammate Felipe, to coordinate plans in order to explore the mangrove and find where we could dig mud out from. On Sunday we went out in the mangrove for some exploring and found 2 spots that could work. We had to take into consideration where it could be the most “eco-friendly” spot to dig mud from, which is really hard as the entire mangrove is a habitat for organisms. At the end, what we do is to give back to nature so we decided that these 2 spots are the most convenient as they’re cleared out areas with less trees, and we found that most animals live around the trees, so it wouldn’t be harming the environment as much to dig out from here. It is important to recall the importance of mangroves and the huge impact they provide on the planet being immense nurseries for endless species and also absorbing carbon dioxide. While we were exploring we came across a heron and when we went to check out or nursery, we found some weird bugs swimming in one of the buckets with seeds so we had to change that out.

Communication is a key thing in life, not just this project, but the challenges will help us improve and learn from our mistakes to be prepared for the future! During the CAS class, I worked on looking over the message that Mayan wrote to invite the community to our event, and I translated it to Spanish. This is the message and the translation:

“La Paz Community School 12th grade students Mayan Koren and Sebas Leon have actively been a part of the Avellanas mangrove reforestation project. In the past year we have been studying and developing a sustainable solution for this mangrove forest to return to its natural state. We have realized that in order to create a change we can not do it alone! We need the help of our community.

What can you do to help? We are inviting you to come be a part of the Mangrove reforestation team on Saturday 29th of September by planting seeds into our new mangrove nursery! Our goal is to collect and plant 1,000 seeds that will be planted in the mangrove. Meet us at Cabinas Las Olas on Saturday 29th at 9:00am. For more information contact mayan.koren@lapazschool.org or call (506) 8650-7243.  

Help us restore our Mangroves!

Los estudiantes de 12 ° grado de La Paz Community School, Mayan Koren y Sebas Leon han participado activamente en el proyecto de reforestación del manglar de Avellanas. En el último año, hemos estado estudiando y desarrollando una solución sostenible para que este bosque de manglar vuelva a su estado natural. ¡Nos hemos dado cuenta de que para crear un cambio no podemos hacerlo solos! Necesitamos la ayuda de nuestra comunidad.

¿Qué puedes hacer para ayudar? ¡Te invitamos a que seas parte del equipo de reforestación del manglar, el sábado 29 de septiembre, plantando semillas en nuestro nuevo vivero de mangles! Nuestro objetivo es recolectar y plantar 1,000 semillas que serán plantadas en el manglar. Nos vemos en Cabinas Las Olas el sábado 29 a las 9:00 a.m. Para obtener más información, comuníquese con mayan.koren@lapazschool.org o llame al (506) 8650-7243.  

Ayúdanos a restaurar nuestros Manglares!”

During this time, I also updated my CAS binder, printed all my journal entries from Tumblr and made some cover pages for different sections. The reason I printed all my journal entries is because soon it will be time to move on from Tumblr, onto another program where we will even have the chance to receive funds for our project!

[savethemangrove]

Busy week

Commitment and perseverance - New challenges and new skills - Work collaboratively - Plan & Initiate - Global Importance // Reflective - Open-minded - Risk-taker - Balanced

This was my second week of IB and I must admit I was overwhelmed. I had a lot of school work and I was sick, which didn’t help at all, but I was able to complete all my work on time and slowly I am getting better. This week was kind of a hassle for CAS because I had a lot to do but at the same time absolutely nothing. I had to start working on creating a mission statement, work with Felipe to create a post to share about our project and meet with the team. The meeting wasn’t as successful as they have been in the past, we had a short period of time during lunch and not everyone was present at the same time. I didn’t really have a chance to share my Gantt chart with details and we didn’t advance on the mission statement creation. There is good and there is bad in life, and you got to have a little bit of both. Clearly, this week wasn’t the best but it gives me an opportunity to reflect and learn from those mistakes. There is a lot of room for improvement within the lines of communication for our team but I know we can improve and have things flow nicely.

On Friday before my business class, Sebas ran up to me and told me that next weekend Mayan and him agreed to host an event to invite the community to help us plant, collect seeds and fill up our nursery. I thought it was a great idea but it was a little too soon planning wise and for collecting necessary materials. There is a lot of work to do regarding this event and a lot of editing to happen on my Gantt chart as we figure things out and they shift basically my entire plan for the trimester. I have to stay open-minded and understand they want to finish their part of the CAS project and pass it down to me in the next month so they can move on and focus on the rest of IB. I think it’s a bit risky to have this event so soon because we will really have to blast it on social media and spread the word so we have a large amount of volunteers show up, or else the event won’t be fully worth it because there is so much to do with the mangroves and the nursery. In general I think this project has been a risk anyways, because there are so many natural external forces that can affect our project but it is worth trying for the environment anyways. It is important to remember why we are doing this and I think that once I create the mission statement, we will have something to remind us more often and to look to when we are a little lost in the path of our project.

To balance CAS with the rest of IB and my life, I had a routine for this week. As I mentioned before, I was feeling miserable this week due to my cold, but when I got home from school I surfed a few days just so I could clear myself out in the ocean because I truly believe salt water heals everything. After that, I would go home, shower, and start with my school work. First off I would do all the work that was due the next day, then I would work on other important projects so I wouldn’t procrastinate it to the last minute as well as working on TOK because it takes such a long period of time to complete thoughtfully. Once I was finished with the most urgent of the work, I would also take some time to look into CAS and try to move forward with anything I could. I drafted a mission statement and I would like to bring it up during our next team meeting to get their approval and then present it to Ms. Amy. Another thing I did for my project this week was check up on our nursery and the seeds we have sitting in water that are ready to plant. They are all looking good and I am so excited for the event next weekend because I can’t wait to finally plant the seeds into the mangrove and make it a little bit greener, as well as collecting more seeds and trying to fill our nursery. One of the things Sebas had me do was calculate approximately how many containers with seeds we can fit into each one of our nursery crates. Currently we have about 50 containers with a little over 50 seeds because some containers have 2 small seeds in them while others have just a big one. It is about 1/4 filled with containers, which means we can hold around 200 containers in one of the crates (but I think we can totally squish in some more). My CAS project usually requires more physical work, so to create balance with the rest of my activities, school and homework, I plan to develop this project more during weekends when I have more time to be able to do everything that has to be done such as planting, watering, etc. Once we have more in our nursery, I know I will be having much more work than now because it will require more attention but for now I am focusing on the planning and organizational aspects of the project as we move forward with the rest.

This month in Costa Rica we celebrate the independence, at school we have been decorating doors and talking about it as well as making a farol for the parade. As you might know from my previous posts, art is totally my thing, so making a farol (lantern) was exciting, even if it was homework with a due date and rubric to stress me out, I was happy to use my creativity for something! I wanted to make something that connected to what I love the most but also the beautiful country and truly celebrate it. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the parade and carry my farol with it because I was feeling really sick and living so far away from school makes it really difficult to be able to attend to all of the events but here is a picture of it:

[savethemangrove]

Gantt chart

Plan & Initiate - Work collaboratively -Commitment and perseverance // Thinker - Communicator - Knowledgeable - Reflective

In my IB curriculum I will be taking Business Higher Level and our first task this week was to watch a video, fill out a worksheet and create our own Gantt chart. Last trimester I had created one but it wasn’t as detailed. Gantt Charts are a visual project management tool that help monitor timelines for tasks in a project by showing the start and due date. It also shows the person in charge of the task and the interdependencies of the tasks which means it shows which tasks must be completed in order to move on to the next or which can be worked on simultaneously.

Like everything in life, there are positive aspects of the Gantt chart as well as drawbacks. The Gantt chart is really helpful because it organizes the project in a way that you can break it down to steps in order to give sense of direction to everyone involved, sets strict timelines and keep everyone on track. The major drawback of the Gantt chart is that it’s time consuming to maintain updated since there is always a lot of information to be added as the project moves on and keeps developing.

Here is the link to my Gantt chart, it has some activities that we have already completed from the last trimester or during break, as well as the future steps. This upcoming Wednesday will be our first team meeting of the trimester during lunch in which we will discuss our next steps and I will present my chart in order to get everyone on the same page because when working in a group it is important to communicate with others to keep everyone updated on the situation. It isn’t completely finished because it is a work in progress because as our project develops and more tasks come up, I will add them in. It is important to follow the order/timeline of the chart because I have spaced out the tasks in a way that will give us enough time to complete them and not cramp everything at the end, the chart’s purpose is to basically avoid procrastination and motivate us to work towards our goal.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VXV6uNthrbPg8LrXp_E0gQz64e0nnay57JLZ028boq8/edit?usp=sharing

In the past, we haven’t had such a structured plan because everything just kind of happened as we went and when Mayan and Sebas told us we had to do something because they’re the leaders. I’m not saying it wasn’t effective because we did get a lot done once I’d put a lot of pressure on the team because I am stubborn, but it will be helpful to keep track of things with the chart.

On another note, my dad and I went surfing at the river mouth in Avellanas during the weekend and while he waited for me to get out of the water and catch one last wave, he picked up some mangrove seeds that were stranded on the beach! They still had the tips green so they hadn’t been out of their habitat for too long, which means they should still be alive. We took them home and put them in water with the rest of the seeds that we have which we will be putting in containers and into our nursery soon!

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Summer break 2018

Strengths and areas for growth - New challenges and new skills // Reflective - Balanced - Open-minded - Risk-taker

I decided to save this post for the last day of my vacation so I could summarize everything I did and share my experiences because they were definitely some of the best in my life and it all opened me up to tons of new ideas! This summer I traveled by myself to Switzerland for a summer camp and then I was visiting family for about 10 days. This wasn’t my first time in Switzerland and it wasn’t my first time seeing my Swiss family but it was my first time going there in summer and traveling alone but I was so excited. I could barely even believe that my parents were sending me off across the world alone, when usually they barely even let me go surfing by myself at my home break. We found summer camps through the Swiss Embassy and they’re for Swiss living abroad to get to know their country; the one I chose to go to is called the Swiss Challenge, where you travel around Switzerland by bus and train. I thought this camp was special because it was moving around everywhere, whilst other camps have a base and go on daily excursions; it was also the camp with the smallest group of people, all the others were for about 40 people in total while this one was about 20.

Packing was difficult because I had to fit all summer camp things in a backpack (it was all we were aloud to carry since our bags would be traveling in a mini van while we would travel around by bus or train). I still took my new huge suitcase that my friend gave to me and that’d I’d leave with Pepe (my dad’s cousin) because I needed a few things for when I was staying with my family (such as gifts and extra clothing) and I needed something to bring back chocolate in! I couldn’t believe I was really going to Switzerland by myself until my parents were dropping me off at the airport in San José! My mom walked in to the airport with me because it was my first time alone and she’s overprotective so she stood there watching while I checked in, and passed security. Once I was in, I waved with a huge smile and walked to my gate, she definitely didn’t seem too happy about me leaving. Once I was on the plane, I texted my parents goodbye, relaxed for take off and tried to enjoy a long 11 hour flight directly to Zürich. Once I arrived, Pepe was waiting for me and we had something to drink, I got a SIM card (because my parents wanted to make sure I could always contact them or my family in case of an emergency) and he drove me to the first stop of the camp. My flight didn’t arrive early enough in the day for me to be able to meet up with the group at the main train station in Zürich so Pepe drove me there, but we couldn’t get in contact with the leaders and had no idea where they were so we waited at the hostel for hours. Once we finally got in contact, one of the leaders came to pick me up and we drove to where we were spending the afternoon before going back to the hostel.

Day 1: After waiting hours and falling asleep for a bit (poor Pepe having to wait so long), I finally met everyone! There were people from all around the world who spoke many different languages but at the end they were all Swiss too, which was so cool! We made a list of rules, had dinner and walked back to the hostel. The first destination was Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall near the city of Schaffhausen. It was about 10pm and there was still some light outside, I was incredibly jet lagged and confused because I was used to it getting dark at around 5-6 pm back home but it felt great to finally go to sleep.

Day 2: We visited the rainfall, made our challenge groups (my group was called Rainbow Fish), walked to the city of Schaffhausen where we had a challenge to complete in our groups and then watched the World Cup Final.

Day 3: We took a train to Bern (I love trains and I have loved them since I was a little girl) where we spent the day at the pool, ate gelato and toured around the city. Then we went to our next destination which was Vallorbe.

Day 4: We walked to Grottes de Vallorbe, which is a cave home to the longest underground river in Central Europe. Afterwards, made a fire where we cooked sausages and bread, then we walked to a pool for a little fun before heading back to the hostel.

Day 5: We hiked for hours following the Orbe river back to our hostel and once again along the way we had a challenge to complete in groups!

Day 6: We took a train to Geneva where we toured the United Nations Headquarters, then took another train to Lausanne where we swam at the lake and took pictures at the Olympic Museum.

Day 7: We visited the Lake of Moiry and went inside the dam, then hiked our way down where we took a bus to our next hostel where we met up with another camp. We got to meet people from the other camp (which was huge, like 40 people), eat and go bowling.

Day 8: We made mixed hiking groups with our camp and the other to go hike up to the Aletsch glacier, which was about a 7-8 hour hike in total. One of the worst days in my life, I genuinely thought I was not going to make it, it was too much hiking, and really steep uphill and downhill with loose rocks. We experienced real Swiss hiking, then took a train to Brig where we toured a cave bunker fortress, learnt about its history and had dinner there.

Day 9: We took trains to Tenero where we would stay at the 5-star Tamaro camping. We set up the classic military tents under the blazing sun and my team (me and 2 other girls) finished first! The camping really was 5-stars, filled with campers and camper vans (we were basically the only ones using tents) and there were really nice and big bathrooms for the hundreds of people staying there! The camp had better bathrooms then some of the other hostels we had previously stayed at, which I thought was really funny because when I think of camping I don’t even imagine there being bathrooms but Switzerland is totally different from Costa Rica! We were so hot from all the work of putting up the tents so we swam at the lake and it was so refreshing.

Day 10: We hiked in Valle Maggia, swam at the lake and played some games to get challenge points for our groups.

Day 11: Once again we hiked, this time in Valle Verzasca and once we were done we had lunch in Locarno and had free time to go shopping. We took a boat back to our camp and swam in the lake.

Day 12: We took down our tents and traveled to Saint Moritz where we went up to Corviglia, had free time in the city and went to Pontresina which is where the hostel was.

Day 13: We visited Diavolezza and the Morteratsch glacier where we took tons of pictures! We went to a little village nearby and watched cheese be made, it takes so much patience and time, it’s incredible! We prepared for our party which would be in Muottas Muragl, that was a little place in the mountains and had a beautiful view. We partied up in the mountains, at the train station, on the train and back at a train station because we had to be quiet in the hostel.

Day 14: It was time to say goodbye, everyone was traveling back to the main train station but I was getting off the train early and taking a bus to Bellinzona where Pepe would pick me up and I would stay with family. On the train I hugged and said goodbye to everyone and cried a lot. On the bus to Bellinzona once I parted from the group, I opened my envelope of notes (we wrote notes to each other the night before and we didn’t receive them until it was time to part) and I read all of them, crying even more. At this moment it was when I regretted the most having left behind my sunglasses in Pepe’s car. This camp was such a beautiful experience and I met some of the sweetest people ever, and I really hope I get to see them again someday.

Once Pepe picked me up in Bellinzona, he took me out for delicious lunch and took me to Paula’s house (his sister), where I’d be staying, this was in a little town called Vira. Every day was amazing, I’d go swim in the lake, eat yummy food, eat gelato at Bar Tennis (the best gelato in the world in my opinion) and relax so much! Pepe took me to a bunch of cool places and I was so happy to spend such an amazing time with family! We went up to the mountains and did a long hike to Indemini where my parent’s aunt and uncle have a rustic rock house and one day we drove from there to Italy for lunch. I got to go shopping and also visit the Locarno Film Festival where I unexpectedly found some friends that come visit us in Costa Rica once in a while. Our friend Luisa (who also comes to visit us in Costa Rica) took me wake skating on her boat in the lake and I absolutely fell in love with this sport, we went out a few days and I improved every day, I was able to do a few tricks and I simply loved it! I want to get a wake skate and keep practicing here in the ocean. I also got to try wake surfing one day but I still preferred wake skating. I had such an amazing time, I’m incredibly grateful for having the opportunity to experience all of this and I really hope to go back soon, it was so relaxing to travel by myself and do so many fun things, it also opened me up to new ideas for my future. I bought a lot of chocolate for my family and also sneaked in 2 salamis we had bought in Italy! I was so sad to leave, I cried on the trains to the airport but I was kind of excited to go back and surf again. Once I got to the airport, I had already checked in online (which I had never done before and it was so cool and convenient), I dropped my bag off which ended up being overweight but the man at the desk was nice and let it pass by and then I went inside and waited for my plane. It was a long 12 hour flight back to San José but once I got there, my parents were waiting for me and I ran out of the airport before security would find everything I had sneaked back (pounds of chocolate and salami).

Once I was finally back home, I surfed every day for at least 3 hours. There were some really great swells this break and I was so stoked. I felt like I improved my surfing, that I loosened up, really got the feeling and was riding the waves really well! A highlight from my time back in Costa Rica was the camping and surfing trip I went on with my dad to Witch’s Rock. Packing was a hassle, there was so much stuff to take, and I had to do most of it because my dad was busy with work. We stopped in Liberia to eat pizza at Pronto (my dad’s friend’s pizzeria that we’ve been going to since forever because it’s so yummy) and then headed to Witch’s. When we arrived to the Santa Rosa National Park, we stopped at the famous Casino to pay the entrance fee and then we headed down to the camping area near the beach. The road is awful, during winter it was so muddy they had to put rocks in but now that it’s dry, the rocks make it a million times worse. We took about 40 minutes to drive the road, which isn’t even that long but due to its conditions it takes a while. There are even signs at the beginning saying “Drive at your own risk, road in bad conditions”, which totally scared me at first but we were fine with my dad’s truck. We saw many deer along the way and they were so calm they wouldn’t run away or panic so we would be able to take pictures of them. When we got there, Sebas was there but he was just leaving because they close the gate at 4pm and with the long drive you have to make sure to leave early or you’ll get locked in! We set up our tent and walked 20 minutes down the trail to the surf spot El Burro; my dad and I were the only ones in the water, the waves were perfect 3-5 feet with good offshore, it was unbelievable. We surfed some of the best 2 hours of my life with a gorgeous sunset. We walked back to the camping area almost dark, we rinsed off and started cooking dinner which was kind of a fail. We went to sleep and my dad snored all night long, so I barely slept. Next morning we woke up around 5am, ate something small and walked to El Burro again, clearly the swell had gone down and the waves were tiny. We only surfed half an hour there and then walked to the river mouth which took about 10 minutes, it wasn’t any better there so we just chilled on the beach and explored around the mangrove. I realized part of the mangrove here had died too but it was only a small part. We saw some small sharks in the river mouth and some turtles. We surfed about an hour there just to do something and then walked back to the camping area. We packed, had lunch, showered and left. It was such a beautiful experience because there were barely any people besides us, so it felt like you were in the middle of no where enjoying nature. It was also a great time to bond with my dad and he told me stories of when he used to come camp here 30 years ago and not even park rangers would come down to the beach. Nature is incredible and it’s so amazing to live in such a beautiful country that offers such peaceful places.

Ps. There is a 10 picture limit per post so I will be posting more pictures from my break separately later sometime. 

[savethemangrove]

CAS and officially starting IB

Strengths and areas for growth - New challenges and new skills - Commitment and perseverance - Global Importance // Reflective - Balanced - Open-minded

Creativity

“Being creative” means something different to everyone and is displayed in everything we do; from the way we choose to look and dress, to the activities we choose to do and things we choose to make. I consider myself a creative person because I am artistic and enjoy painting, coloring, crafting, taking pictures and making everything I do unique and original. Over break I took many pictures of my daily adventures and sometimes I would edit some of them just for fun and post them on social media. One day someone told me that they really liked my pictures and I should really consider focusing on photography and creating a portfolio with all my pieces, which was something I had never thought about because I considered my pictures just to be something silly to capture the memories, nothing so serious like that. Here are a few of them:

When preparing for the new school year and officially starting IB, I made 2 pencil cases. I watched a YouTube video and got inspired but as usual, I didn’t have all the materials so I changed it up a bit and made it my way. I’ve always loved “DIYing” things because for some reason I really enjoy making everything myself, even when I have little patience and nothing turns out well, I’ll still try again until I’m satisfied. Since it was still summer, I got inspired to paint tropical fruits for the pencil cases. I followed the measurements from the video, cut the fabric, painted it, glued the pieces together and finally added the zipper. It ended up being a little odd because my zipper fit a little big for the fabric measurements I used from the video but it worked anyways. I was happy with my pouch until I realized it was way too small and a full pencil didn’t even fit in it. I was so disappointed but I could still use it for something else. I had more fabric, glue sticks and one zipper left, just enough to make another one. This next try, I made sure to make the pouch bigger (and ended up making it way too big this time) so I cut the fabric, painted once again and then glued it all together. Since I made this pouch way bigger, I decided to add another fruit to the pattern. When I was finally done, I was so happy because I was able to fit so many things in it and after hours of work I treated myself to some Swiss chocolate. Here is how the pencil cases turned out:

Something I personally regret not doing over break is making more art. For Christmas almost 2 years ago, my parents gave me a set of 150 Prismacolor colored pencils and I have a lot of mandala coloring books that I should have worked on more during this vacation. I also have a few small canvases that I have been wanting to paint to decorate my room with but I also procrastinated that. Part of the reason I didn’t do everything I wanted to was because I would surf so much that once I was back home, I was too tired and I’d probably be napping anyways to go surf again later. Now that I am starting IB I will be busier but I still want to find time to work on this maybe in the afternoons with my mom because she enjoy coloring too. Here is an elephant I had colored a long time ago:

Part of creativity in my opinion is organization and the way you lay things out. Recently, I decided to work a little extra on my Tumblr so I added a profile picture and header image. I also changed the layout of my posts, because I felt like they were lacking a good title. I now have the CAS learning outcomes and IB learner profiles under the title because they are still important but a real title keeps things neat and organized. I went back and edited that on my previous posts so everything was the same and it was easier to “identify” all of my posts. I am so glad I did this now because it is so much neater and I don’t have as many posts yet so it wasn’t too big of a hassle.

Activity

From some of my previous posts, you probably already know surfing is my favorite sport at the moment. During break I set a goal to surf minimum 3 hours every day. I went to Switzerland for almost a month and before that I had stayed in San José a few days to visit family and once I arrived back in Costa Rica my parents wanted to stay in the city a few more days once again. When I was finally home, I really kept up with the minimum 3 hours per day of surfing; even if the waves weren’t the best, I made myself stay out for that long. Some days the waves were incredibly amazing that I’d surf for 5 or 6 hours, my record one day was 7 hours! It’s not like I had anything better to do at home anyways and if the waves were that great there was no way I wasn’t going to take advantage of it! Since I am officially starting IB soon and I won’t have as much free time, I really wanted to enjoy and surf as much as I could these vacations. Also, after being one month out of the water due to traveling, I wanted to get back at it and also keep improving. When I wasn’t in the water, I was at home relaxing and usually I would workout for about half an hour every day. When I was on my trip in Switzerland, since I couldn’t surf, I still stayed pretty active doing certain different activities and I will get more into detail about my trip on the next post, so stay tuned!

Service

When I hear the word “service” relating to CAS, I think about giving back. I personally think that we have so much to give back to the planet more than anyone else, which is kind of why I am really passionate about my project and the environment. For service this break I kept working on my project in hopes to restore the mangrove and help the environment because they are nurseries for many species and process tons of carbon dioxide! Mangroves are such an important ecosystem and I have also noticed in several different ones around Costa Rica that some parts are dying (not as severe as the Avellanas mangrove) so I want to be able to help preserve such an important part of nature.

Planning for the new school year

Officially starting IB has been something haunting me all along this past year, even if it’s just at the back of my head, it’s still there. I am obviously nervous for starting the program because it is a lot of work to be done in a short period of time. I am definitely motivated because I want to succeed and make myself proud, I also know it will be great preparation for the future. Besides sorting out my materials and packing my school bag, I haven’t done much physical planning for the new school year; it’s mostly been mental where I am just preparing myself to get back to the school routine and motivate myself to do the best I can. I’ve been telling myself I won’t procrastinate and I will try to enjoy this instead of stressing out so much because it truly is an amazing opportunity to be able to take the IB Diploma Program and I want to make the best of it. I’ve been surfing as much as I can to prepare for the hard times coming up ahead where I’ll have too much to be able to surf this much. It’s not a goodbye to surfing, I will definitely keep doing it because keeping balance is super important to stay healthy (mentally and physically) but I know I won’t be able to go minimum 3 hours a day anymore. This vacation definitely helped me clear my mind from many things I had been holding on to and it helped me open up to new ideas which I am excited about for the future, but for now I am ready to get focused and take on the new challenges IB has for me!

[savethemangrove]

Construction day

Commitment and Perseverance - Work Collaboratively - Strengths & Areas for Growth - Global Importance / Knowledgeable - Balanced - Open-minded - Reflective - Caring - Thinker

The big day had arrived! On August 23rd it was time to build the mangrove nursery we had been talking about and planning for so long! There was a slight change in plans as the night before, Sebas and his family had come to dinner at my restaurant and we were discussing the topic. It turns out Sebastian’s dad had to go to Santa Cruz so Sebas would go with him and buy the wood there, which turned out to be way cheaper than getting it in Tamarindo (about $60 when at the other place it was over $100).

On the morning of the big day, I woke up at around 6:00, had breakfast and went surfing because I wanted to squeeze in a session before the long afternoon ahead of building the nursery. The tide was low at 7:30 when I got in the water but it was glassy and I was the only one so I had all the little waves for myself. As the day went on, the tide got higher and the waves slowly got better until the wind changed onshore. At this point, the ocean was really choppy and I only stayed out to talk to a new friend I met a few days ago surfing. Once I realized it was past 12:30 and I’d been in the water for over 5 hours, I got out and ran home worried that Sebas and Mayan had already arrived, but they hadn't. I had time to shower, eat lunch and take a nap before they finally arrived.

We started by carrying all the materials to my house, we had to do a few trips from the parking lot to my house (which takes about 5 minutes to walk there and back). When we finally had all the wood, nails, hammers, shovels, mangrove seeds and containers at my house, we got to work. We decided that splitting up the tasks would be a more efficient way of managing our time and to fit each one of our strengths; Sebas started building the crates, Mayan was cutting in half the plastic bottles and containers (which we’d use to plant the mangroves in) and I went down to the mangrove with some containers that were already cut in half and filled them with the mangrove muck. Although my task got really messy, I thought it was the most fitting for myself because I definitely had no experience in building and it would definitely delay our project within the limited time we had for the day. Moments like these, we realize the importance of working collaboratively because we can join together our strengths and advance more on the project.

Once I had finished my task, I brought back up to my house the containers and Sebas was finishing the last few crates. Mayan and I moved around a few of them to place them neatly, then Sebas and Mayan finished organizing them while I prepared some water and snacks for a quick break before we continued working. Now that we had finished the crates, we took all the containers Mayan had cut open and started filling them with the muck. Once we were done with that, we brought them back up to the nursery and placed them inside the crates. We wanted to plant some of the seeds Mayan had previously collected at the Langosta mangrove (and was keeping them in water) but it was going to get dark soon so we decided to collect more seeds instead and plant next time we met up with more time. We have to be flexible and open to last minute changes like these because our project does depend a lot on weather and external conditions which we cannot control so we have to adapt and keep working on what we can until we’re able to continue advancing with the rest.

We walked to the parking lot and hopped in Sebastian’s car, Mayan and I put our seatbelts on because Sebas was driving! We drove a few minutes to another part of the mangrove, closer to the estuary and river mouth. We found tons of mangrove seeds on the ground and we collected a ginormous bag filled with them! It was getting dark quickly so we drove back and quickly planted some of the seeds we had collected into the containers with muck we had ready. The tons of seeds we had remaining we left soaking in water so they don’t die. We were so proud of ourselves and felt like we got a lot done because we finally built our nursery and had around 100 mangroves growing in it already! We planned to meet sometime later the week to fill more bags and containers with mud for the seeds and plant the other seeds that Mayan brought directly into the mangrove (because they were already big enough and had developed roots, which we were afraid of breaking if we tried planting in containers first).

After concluding this long day, I felt proud and accomplished because we did so much in just one afternoon. This experience made me reflect and remember why we’re doing this in the first place; which is because we care about the environment and the future. I connected my thoughts to a documentary my parents were watching a few days ago about mangroves, and how important they really are to the ecosystems. I remember hearing an analogy in the show that went something like “if the world is a body, mangroves are its kidneys and lungs”. I didn’t pay much attention because it was during dinner and I was hungry after my afternoon surf session, but from my previous knowledge I totally understood the analogy. Mangroves are essential filters of water and air for the planet and it is our job to protect them and keep them healthy if we want to keep a healthy planet!

[savethemangrove]

Trip to the hardware store

Working Collaboratively - Commitment and Perseverance - Plan & Initiate / Balanced - Inquirer - Open-minded - Communicator

The next step for our project was to get the wood. On August 21st, Sebas and I went surfing in the morning and I picked him up on the way to Tamarindo with my mom in the afternoon. Our plan was to go to a hardware store to see what is available and get the prices so when we went with the pickup truck to actually get it, we knew how much we each of us had to pitch in. First my mom had to go all the way to Huacas to buy a stool so she dropped us off at a gelato place in the meantime, because Sebas and I both were really craving it. The flavors I chose were pineapple and Oreo, while Sebas had chocolate and mint:

Once my mom picked us up, we drove to Tamarindo and she dropped us off at the hardware store while she went grocery shopping. When we got to the hardware store, we had to wait a really long time for someone to finally attend us. The man who helped us out was an agronomist so he understood our idea and took us to the back of the hardware store to look at the wood and measure it, to see what could work best for us. We had some measurements in mind but we decided to adapt to the sizes they had there, just because it would be more convenient and we wouldn’t be wasting as much material by cutting up so much wood and stuff like that. This is the wood that was available:

After doing the math and deciding on what we needed, the man proceeded to go to the computer and tell us the prices. We needed 12 long wood planks for the sides and 2 longer and thinner pieces to secure the corners. This would all add up to approximately over $100, we thanked the guy and told him we’d come back on Thursday to purchase the wood. We started walking to Auto Mercado (the grocery store where my mom was at) and obviously we had to fool around a little bit, because it’s all about balancing the work and the fun:

Once we finally arrived to the store, we were exhausted from the walk under the burning sun so it was actually really nice to chill in the A/C for a little while and we got some drinks to cool down (which looked very artificial but tasted great):

After this, we stopped quickly at a stationary shop because I had to get a few more materials to prepare for IB in a few weeks! Once we were finally done with all of the errands, we went back home and informed Mayan on the prices and on our plan for Thursday the 23rd.

[savethemangrove]

Nursery sketching and scheduling

Work Collaboratively - Commitment and Perseverance - Plan & Initiate / Thinker - Knowledgeable - Communicator

On August 17th, I met with Sebastian and Mayan at my house after we all got back from our trips to advance on our CAS project. I have to admit that I wasn’t stoked on having a meeting that day, because it’s vacation and all I wanted to do was surf since there was good swell and the high tide was in the morning. I woke up at 5:00 and was in the water by 5:30; the waves were unbelievably perfect and I was still able to surf 5 amazing hours before the meeting so I wasn’t that cranky after all.

As usual when they arrived at my house, my dog started barking and Sebas started teasing her. We initiated by discussing the most important task on our to-do list, the mangrove nursery. We decided that it will be more convenient and affordable to create a simple nursery rather than a big structure. A watering system was going to be complicated to install because in our initial idea we wanted to have shelves but a watering system on the roof would not reach all the plants, and a dripping system was going to be expensive because all the plants we plan to have and all the material we’d need. We will be making a few crates out of wood and placing the mangroves inside which will be in black decomposable gardening bags or recycled containers such as bottles cut in half. Keeping them in bags/containers will prevent the roots from getting tangled since they will be separated, which is one of our biggest concerns for when it comes the time to replant them. If we put the mangroves together in containers, it would be harder to take them out, especially if the roots intertwined because they are fragile. The smaller plastic bags will also allow us to transport them easier from the nursery to the mangrove when it comes time for the Mangrove Explorer Weekend planting. We will be separating the batches with string and labeling the dates so we can keep track of growth rates. For watering, we will be taking advantage of the rain and only watering when necessary; we also plan on watering with salt water once a week because it is just enough for them. Here is a sketch of our idea:

We also decided on a new location for this nursery; it will now be located behind my house because it is closer to the mangrove than the other location we previously had in mind. We thought maybe my parents wouldn’t really like the idea of us building right next to my house but it’s in the back part so it’s not really visible. When we have to plant them into the mangrove during the event next year, we might have a lot of people coming to the nursery which might be a little inconvenient around my house but it is simply better to have it closer to the mangrove because transporting the plants will be a big deal. This is the spot:

We took measurements of the area and decided to make crates measuring 1.50 by 5 meters; which we realized was really big and ended up changing our minds to making them smaller and just accommodating to the size of the wood planks that we can find at the hardware store. We made a schedule for the last few weeks of break to get work done, but it was flexible and we always communicated through our group chat to plan because our schedule was just to set a general idea to time  our activities and set due dates. This was our schedule:

We felt good after our meeting because we planned and sorted out a lot of important things that had to get done so we have a good direction to take now that we start to actually work. We felt prepared to finally build the nursery and our next step was going to the hardware store to get wood, since Sebas already had nails and our families already had other materials such as hammers. We decided we would split the cost of the wood between our families since we need to start immediately and later on in the year we can plan fundraisers and/or create the Kickstarter.

I apologize for the low quality of the pictures, it’s the only way Tumblr will let me post them, my WiFi hasn’t been working too well either.

[savethemangrove]

Summer break project planning

Plan & Initiate - Global Importance - Work Collaboratively / Communicator - Inquirer- Thinker

This week, to finalize plans for the summer break, I met with Sebastian, Mayan and Felipe during lunch time. We briefly discussed the schedule for the break and created the mangrove plots on Google Earth. We went over the information Jemma sent us for the mangrove nursery which is going to be designed and planned during all of July and actually built during August when we all should get back from our trips.

Jemma is such an enormous help, backing us up and giving us access to reliable and credible sources of information from scientific databases. She provided us with evidence on why mangroves are important which connects to the global importance of this project, and will be useful when we create our signage for the mangrove. This is the email Jemma sent us:

“Hi Rochelle and Sebastian, I have done a quick literature review on mangrove restoration and nurseries for you. I have downloaded some of the relevant papers, research and guidelines I found and have saved them on my Google Drive in the following folder: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wOTdnPQadSHl-AXL39NtUBknoX_7U1_w

Let me know if you have any difficulty accessing this. You should receive a link emailed separately as well. There are two sub-folders in the main folder. One called Literature, which provides some useful research papers on mangrove restoration, and one called Nursery, which contains a few manuals and handbooks on establishing a nursery. I would suggest you read through the three documents and pull out the components that will work best at Avellanas. Here are some useful links as well:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/236234/mangroves.pdf  This guidance document reiterates our findings that seeding directly tends to be more successful that translocating seedlings. It provides some useful information on the various species and some detail on propagation and setting up a nursery. It suggests using pots, but I don't think that's either sustainable or practical with the number we are talking. Note that this is Australia-specific, but should be pretty relevant for the CR Pacific Coast as well.

http://www.mesa.edu.au/cams/pdf/mangroves.pdf   This is a nice set up for conducting education/field assessments with the community. Keep this in mind as a basis for the later community planting and monitoring work. https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/global2.vic.edu.au/dist/5/13611/files/2013/02/IMG_0666-190wfi7.jpg   This is a pretty rudimentary picture of what I mean by a seed tray. You can use anything, from a laundry tub to an old container. It just needs to be large enough to fit a decent number of seeds, and deep enough to accommodate the roots. Make sure the seeds are individually planted in rows and adequately spaced to make it easy to remove the seedlings when you're ready to plant, and to allow enough room for the seedlings and their roots to grow. You will need to set up a way to provide saline water to them (this is where growing them in the tidal area might be an option). Otherwise, set them up on benches and have it so that a salt/fresh water mix can be added and topped up at the base of each tray. There are requirements and tips for doing this in some of the guidelines I've included.

Let me know if you have any questions or anything isn't clear. I know some of the papers might be a little technical and hard to understand, so let me know if you need anything explaining. Same with the nursery set up. Thanks, Jemma Purandare Director of Science and Strategic Development Connect Ocean Conservation and Outreach”

The next topic we discussed in the meeting was the plots. We decided to make the plots 10 meters squared so we can plant about 100 mangroves in each one, with enough space between them; and make 10 of these to try to accomplish our goal of 1,200 plants. We decided to focus on the areas closer to the bridge because they are the most accessible. This Saturday we will most likely have a meeting at my house in which we will go out in the mangrove and actually mark the plots. The following image shows where the plots will be located, each dot is one plot and we decided to place them like this:

To physically mark our plots this weekend, we will need measuring tapes and something to mark them with (most likely metal bars and string). The materials we plan on using might not be the most durable against tides or any weather circumstances but we have to take into consideration the ethical implications, so marking the plots could actually disturb the environment. If our materials don’t last, we will look for alternatives to keep this as measured and controlled as possible. A big part of this project will be trial and error because we have to experiment different methods or items to find what will work best for us. We have a lot to do in the next few weeks so we’ll have to put in a lot of effort and stay paced to complete everything on time and follow our schedule!

[savethemangrove]

Meetings and planning

Plan & Initiate - Strengths & Areas for Growth - Work Collaboratively / Thinker - Knowledgeable

On Wednesday June 13th, I had a meeting with Sebastian, Ernst, Jemma, Dylan and Felipe after school. We discussed about assigning roles in the team so we are organized while we explore our skills and areas for growth. These are the following positions we have agreed on: 

Project Manager: Takes the lead on the project and assigns tasks. Can also be the spokesperson of the project to tell the story! -Rochelle with help of ideas from Sebastian 

Treasurer: Keep track of expenses, create a budget for the project and give accountability of all funds being used. -Rochelle 

Web design and Social Media team: Create a simple website of the project, combine it with a Social Media Strategy and Plan to create awareness and document what you do.  -Felipe and Dylan

Communications Manager: Responsible for taking notes during meetings. Manage a Blog post to document the journey! Blog should be imbedded in the website, be updated weekly and shared on social media. -Rochelle will take notes at meetings, Felipe can work on the rest

Graphic Designer /Photographer: Take pictures which can be posted on Instagram and used for blogs and flyers. -Dylan

Artists: Designing/making the signage for Avellanas. -Rochelle

During this meeting we also set some broad due dates or a timeline. We discussed that the seeding season for mangroves here is around August and September so we will have to be attentive for when they start to show up so we can collect them. This is important to watch out for because Jemma mentioned that once the mangroves are washed up on the beach, they’ve been out of their habitat for too long and might not work; we will have to collect directly from the mangrove. We will be creating a grid of the mangrove to create different plots in which we will run trials and plan different species utilizing different methodologies. For example, we want to try planting a specie of mangrove that is more adapted to freshwater near the river in the wetland of Avellanas, and others that prefer more salty or brackish water towards the middle area. Jemma will send us ideas and tips for building a mangrove nursery, we will build this during break in August so it is ready for the seeding season. Next year in September will be our Mangrove Explorer Weekend extravaganza so we will begin planning logistics and Ernst will help with the teaching content, but during this time we would plant the mangroves from the nursery and seeds we find on one of our explorations. Once we have everything planted, our next step would be monitoring the mangroves. We set goals for our project and said goodbye to Jemma who left to Australia but will stay in contact with us, helping us any way she can.

On Monday June 25th, I had a meeting with Mayan to update her on what we had talked about and what we have to start doing. The first step is to grid the mangrove, we explored on Google Earth how we could do it and we discovered we can measure distances like this:

We will use this to measure out plots and go physically create them in the mangrove to separate where we will plant the different species. In the following days I will be speaking with Sebastian and Mayan to plan what is the best way for making the plots and the sizes that would be the most convenient. Once we do this, I will be able to create the plots on Google Earth, take a screenshot and actually go out to mark them in the mangrove. Mayan and I will both be here in August during break so we will work with Sebastian to build the mangrove nursery; we would love to hear ideas from Jemma so I will be reaching out to her soon! 

I have also created a Gantt chart on Google Sheets to keep an organized timeline of what must be done. Currently the tasks I have on it are: Creating a grid for the mangrove, contacting Jemma, making sure the grid is correct/makes sense, weekly meetings with Mayan (established to be every Monday during lunch), plan the nursery and actually build it.

Throughout the whole process I have also been speaking to members of the community and/or friends who might be able to help and so far everyone has shown interest in the project. Slowly, we are putting together the pieces to our puzzle and motivating the community to help the environment and take care of our home. Once again, we won’t be able to reforest the mangrove in 18 months, but this will hopefully be carried on by generations until it is fully restored!

[savethemangrove]

Next steps and meeting Jemma

Plan & Initiate - Work Collaboratively - Commitment and Perseverance - Global Importance - Ethical Implications / Communicator - Knowledgeable - Reflective - Thinker - Caring - Risk-taker

To get my project running, these are the most important steps to complete:

1: Meet with scientist Jemma at the Avellanas Mangrove, along with Sebastian, Ernst and Sara (from ConnectOcean) and two other scientists. This step comes first because we are lucky enough that Jemma is visiting and is willing to help us, so we must take advantage of this opportunity! This step has been completed today (June 10th), because the team was able to come to Avellanas to meet! The meeting was amazing!

First of all, we introduced each other and then we walked down the wooden bridge from Cabinas Las Olas through the mangrove; Sebastian and I explained what happened to the mangrove (our theory about the earthquake) while Jemma asked us questions and reached about the same conclusions as us. She got into more scientific terms of her hypothesis but we were able to agree on the same cause of the death of the mangroves. She proceeded to explain a little bit about mangrove propagation and how we should strategically plant in pockets” based on the margin of recruitment of the natural restoration the mangrove has done. In simpler terms, we basically have to measure how far the baby mangroves have been growing from the survivors to have an estimate of how far the plants can reproduce to. This will help us measure and place these “pockets” of mangroves throughout the entire wetland so once they are developed (in the far future, since mangroves grow really slowly), they’ll have space to naturally propagate themselves and help us restore the entire area. This is a solution on the longer term since planting mangroves throughout the entire area is simply unrealistic for us to complete in a period of 18 months, due to the lack of seeds because they’re seasonal. We questioned the ethical implications of planting mangrove seeds from other beaches/wetlands but Jemma confirmed that if they’re nearby/local and of the same species, it will be okay, because it won’t be a drastic difference. We discussed the importance of mangroves; being nurseries to an incredible amount of diverse species and possessing a larger intake of carbon dioxide (compared to forest trees). Jemma told us that mangroves are “the princesses of the wetlands” because they don’t like change and it’s something so broad (such as tides, chemical composition of water and mud…) we can’t really control so we can try to restore the mangrove but we’ll always have these variables that are out of our hands. Jemma gave us great ideas for what we can do and different methodologies for planting the mangroves. She also talked about what she works with in Australia and a little bit of the sand movement in the eastern part of Australia (which changes the form of beaches and affects the ecosystem in many ways, it connects to what happened here with the sandbar closing out the estuary). We analyzed the aerial images/maps on Google Earth of the sand placement in Avellanas to what has happened and the human intervention in Australia, to reach some sort of hypothesis of the possible sediments and the movement that caused the river mouth to close out in the first place after the earthquake. My dad joined the meeting and he’s willing to help with his business anyway possible, which will be very helpful once we begin to take action. Overall, Sebastian and I learned a lot from Jemma and the experts, we also talked about future plans and are looking forward to another meeting to start creating a solid plan now that we have gained so much knowledge.

2: Meet with Sebastian, Ernst, Jemma, maybe someone else from ConnectOcean and the 10th graders who are interested and will collaborate with the project. This step is really important because we have to start creating a solid plan and schedule for the project so we can begin to take action. We also have to assign the different roles, for example: project manager, graphic designer, artist, treasurer, communicator manager… Marketing is the key aspect for the project because we also want to focus on teaching and inspiring others, so we must spread the word! The meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday (June 13) after school. We will make sure this meeting is completed and happens successfully by informing the rest of the tenth graders so everyone is present.

3: Collect seeds! Even if after the meeting we haven’t decided on our methodology for planting (which Jemma will help us with), we can still start collecting seeds and planting them directly to the mangrove so we don’t let the seeds go to waste. The seeds are seasonal and we have to gather as many as possible before they stop appearing for a while. There isn’t a definite due date for this step since it’s continuous, and depends on the seasons of the mangroves in the local area. We will be creating a mangrove nursery (due date and specific information will be decided soon, after we create a plan at the meeting) and once it is built, we will have to be collecting even more seeds to put into it. We will make sure this is done by creating seed “depos”; if we figure out a way to make it work with Jemma, because since mangroves don’t like to sit out for long periods of time, the whole idea of our seed “depos” might not work. This step will definitely be completed as time goes by because Sebastian and I go surf basically every weekend so if we see seeds on the beaches, we will spread the word so our communities are aware and can help us recollect them too.

4: Start working on our assigned roles (which will be assigned in the meeting). This step depends on step 2 because we have to know what each of us is doing to be able to start. From this we can start working on the different parts of our projects such as the nursery and online campaign. The due dates for all of these parts will be defined in the meeting or will be determined as we begin to work, because a lot of things depend on the weather and season of mangroves. We will make sure everything gets completed because once we have a schedule/due dates, it’ll be easier to follow up with the project. We’ll have reminders constantly keeping us on track and Ernst said ConnectOcean will be there to help us in any way possible. My dad also said he’s willing to help with his business, he can help provide materials and terrain for the mangrove nursery. Jemma will also be keeping us on track, she said she can still be annoying even if she’s all the way in Australia! We have a great team of specialists to back us up and once we have a schedule or an initial plan, we will be able to begin our work!

Extra side note: Here are a few mangrove seeds from the Langosta wetland that Sebastian collected and I planted in this container with mud from the Avellanas mangrove. This is more of a test to see how they do, we don’t expect great results since the seeds were a little damaged and mangroves take long to grow so we must be patient!

[savethemangrove]

Get to know my Project

Plan & Initiate Project - Global Importance - Commitment and Perseverance - Work Collaboratively / Open-minded - Reflective - Thinker - Knowledgeable - Caring

Purpose

The purpose of my project is to reforest the Avellanas Mangrove by creating a mangrove nursery and through environmental awareness campaigns.

A little bit of background information…

After the 7.6 earthquake in 2012 that struck Costa Rica, the level of the earth in Avellanas rose about one meter. With this change, the water from the ocean was having a difficult time entering the mangrove, therefore the river mouth of the estuary closed out and sand built up to the point of blocking it. Mangroves need brackish water (a mix of sea and fresh water). Since the river mouth closed out, the mangroves were no longer receiving the salt water they needed and with the rains, they were receiving an excessive amount of fresh water. The water was stuck in there for months, which meant it was no longer oxygenated and the mangroves basically drowned and started drying. Many people came along with shovels and tried to open up the river mouth so the water could drain, but it took multiple tries and when it was finally accomplished, the mangroves were already dead. (This is our theory of what happened, many scientists and biologists have come to talk to my dad about it and have reached these conclusions). This is the mangrove before and then months after the earthquake (after it had gone through the process I just explained and the water had drained):  

Community

I want to give back to my community a healthy and restored mangrove. I want to reforest the Avellanas mangrove by creating a seed nursery and “seed depos” so we can collect various species from beaches around the area. ConnectOcean will be helping with my project, we will put together an event called the Mangrove Explorer Weekend at my family’s hotel (Cabinas Las Olas) where we will teach about mangroves and then go plant the plants from the nursery. We also want to create a campaign online called “Adopt a Mangrove” so we can raise money to build the nursery and carry out or events.

Importance

The reason I am doing this is because I care about the environment and I worry about issues such as pollution. Plastic has become such a threat to the environment and it worries me because it is killing our planet and its diversity of animals. Unsustainable human practices such as deforestation and overfishing are also of my concern, which is why I am interested in creating campaigns to help battle these issues and truly raise awareness of the consequences. Planet Earth is our home, I don’t think anyone would like their house filled with trash, right? So why can’t people keep the planet as clean as their homes? After all, if we have no trees to give us oxygen or animals to keep the ecosystem balanced, we won’t be able to live here anymore. This leads me to the importance of my project; mangroves are nurseries to an incredible amount of species and by restoring the mangrove I want to give back to planet a safe and healthy ecosystem. Without a healthy mangrove, species won’t have a safe place to come reproduce and we won’t have all these trees giving us oxygen. With over population, nowadays there is a higher demand for products which is why it’s necessary for humans to take care of the environment and use resources responsibly, otherwise the future generations will be left with absolutely nothing.

Obstacles

An obstacle I am facing in this project is creating my own ideas and personalizing the project. I recently joined Sebastian and ConnectOcean for this wonderful project and they have such strong ideas and plans, that I don’t really know what I can do to make this project really mine and not just continue what they have begun. An idea I have to overcome this obstacle is to create an event on my own related to mangroves or fundraising for my event. I thought maybe a special dinner at my family’s restaurant with live music or a concert would be a fun idea. I have a band in mind who would be more than willing to perform, and I could play guitar or piano too. I thought one of these ideas would be a fun way of bringing the community together for a good cause, our environment.

Another obstacle I know I will be facing during this project is the weather and tides. I can’t control the weather or the tides and both are variables that will affect the mangroves, but I can try my best to protect them by referring to the forecast. If tides are expected to be higher than usual, I will have to be paying close attention to the planted mangroves because I don’t want the water to be moving around debris that can knock down the bay plants. An idea to overcome this obstacle is to create a barrier around the plants in the mangrove so they have some protection against the heavy driftwood and fallen mangroves that could potentially harm it.

[savethemangrove]

Class field trip to EARTH University

Strengths & Areas for Growth - New Challenges & New Skills - Work Collaboratively - Global Importance - Ethical Implications / Reflective - Open-minded - Communicator

The trip to EARTH University was absolutely amazing. It is a beautiful location and an amazing place for cultures to intertwine. I am not interested in agriculture, I want to take the path of Business Management, but it was still an amazing experience with lots to learn from. This place is special for my family because my great uncle who was president helped fund it, and when I saw the plaque they have in honor for him I felt proud that someone in my family had helped fund such a unique institution.

My favorite activities during this trip were exploring nature, spending time at the game room, meeting new friends, visiting the urban farm and the food. The campus is beautiful and has lots of space to enjoy and relax. Walking to and swimming in the fresh river was an amazing experience, it was so quiet and peaceful, it felt like we really were in the middle of nowhere. At the game room I challenged my friends to foosball and won multiple times. I also played Pool and Ping Pong, I didn’t do as well but it was still really fun. I was able to talk to new people and enjoy some games with them too but I was shy and didn’t make as many friends as I wish I did. For next time, I would like to be more outstanding and try to talk to more people, I really have to improve on not being shy. It was interesting talking to the people I met because we taught each other about our cultures and I am always open to learning new things. I met wonderful people from Rwanda, Uganda, Cameroon, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and locals from Costa Rica; who were all open and welcoming. The urban farm was the most organized and clean, it also required the least amount of physical labor so it was my favorite. The food was amazing and the cafeteria was just like the movies where you move around with your tray and struggle finding your friends in the large crowd of the dining room.

Learning & using what I learned

Every day was filled with knowledge at EARTH. Every tour or farm we visited, I learned so much from it and I’m amazed by how sustainable they are and don’t let anything go to waste. Regarding the waste management, it is so important for it to become a habit to know how to separate trash because you want to try to reuse everything you can or make the best out of it, for example by making compost. At EARTH I learned how to make compost and I can apply this in the future if I decide to plant my own crops, it will be useful because now I know exactly what will provide the plant with the necessary nutrients to excel. The urban farm was also a helpful experience for me because in science class we are making hydroponics systems and I was still a bit confused on the solid definition and components of the system. At EARTH I was able to clear up all my doubts and get ideas for my own project. I will be using a similar growing medium (carbon, coconut fibre and rice shells) to grow plants in a system built with materials you can easily find around home because I want to make something affordable that others could do around the world to help ensure food security, it is also useless spending so much money on technical or computerized systems when you can have the same results with something cheaper that is accessible to everyone.

Towards the business side, I understood how they apply the three pillars of sustainability to the banana plantation and production. In the social aspect, they hire local workers, in the economics, it is profitable and in the environmental category, they try to create the least effect possible. A way they do this is by turning the banana leaves and stems into compost or food for cows, this way they use everything they have, create less waste, and save resources because they don’t have to buy compost and food for cows. I can apply this in the future to my career because I am interested in environmental conservation and want to emphasize my job around it because I believe sustainability is important because it creates a balance. My ideal of a perfect business is a sustainable business because it is important to take into consideration all the surroundings to try to make a change for the better and improve society in some way while maintaining balance. There’s no point of making a lot of money if you’re destroying the environment and not helping your community. EARTH inspired me and gave me new ideas for creating sustainable or environmentally friendly businesses and I am grateful for this experience because I learned a lot that can help me in the future.

Working collaboratively

This field trip was the most labor intensive; we had to work at the farms for hours and tour around. The morning working at the organic farm required a lot of physical work because my team had to fertilize all the cacao trees. It was super important to work as a team in every activity because that way you’re simply more productive and you can take advantage of everyone’s skills. It’s not impossible, nothing is impossible, but it is certainly way more difficult to do all the farm work by yourself. Andreas was my partner for fertilizing the cacao plants and we started off by him dragging the compost bag through the lanes and I had a bucket to place it around the plant in a circle. We realized this was taking too long so we came up with a different strategy.; we filled up a bunch of buckets  with compost and while Andreas ran dropping them off by every plant, I would be grabbing them, fertilizing the tree and handing him back the empty buckets. This method was more effective because both of us were simply faster, and while it did drain our energy, it was much more fun and totally worth it!

Gratitude

EARTH university is really so much more than a university. It is such a special place that brings the future generation together and plants a seed of peace and knowledge within them. The trip to EARTH made me feel so grateful and lucky because my life has been much easier than so many of the alumni. At the same time it made me reflect and realize how sometimes we don’t appreciate everything we have and we really should because we never know when it’ll be gone. The trip to EARTH also made me feel grateful for having the opportunity to study at La Paz because alike EARTH, La Paz is also creating “agents of change” and the school has changed me as a person and inspired me to create peace within others and the environment. EARTH and La Paz are unique because they create a safe environment for everyone to learn and grow without worrying about race, gender, culture or religious beliefs because it offers opportunities for everyone and also offer financial support and scholarships! We live in a world filled with hatred and discrimination, the only way to battle it is by starting with the young ones because we are the future and we are the ones capable of making a change for the better if we successfully incorporate the ideals of peace into society; which is why I am grateful for both of these places because they’re aware of global issues and are teaching us how to peacefully fight/overcome them. I am grateful for institutions like these because they also focus on environmental conservation which is super important because this is our home and we have to take care of it! It is important to start implementing habits such as separating trash correctly because simple actions can make a big difference when it comes to helping out planet. I’m grateful for going to such a wonderful school and being taught about sustainability and peace because I believe that’s the key for keeping our world running properly and healthily. 

[savethemangrove]

Hi, I’m Rochelle

Strengths & Areas for Growth - Global Importance / Reflective - Caring - Knowledgeable

My motivation

The first thing I want to do when I get up in the morning is surf. With school, variating weather and tides, I can’t go every day but it’s always my first thought in the morning and no matter what, I always check the ocean from my balcony and fantasize about the waves. I’m really passionate about surfing which has led me to get involved into environmental conservation. Surfing is a magical sensation, you’re literally riding a wave, doesn’t that sound fantastical enough? As if it came from a movie or another planet?

I started “surfing” when I was about 5, my dad would take me out and push me on some waves. Here is the first picture I ever got taken surfing:

Throughout my life, I went through phases of surfing and I didn’t quite take it seriously until over two years ago when it became real. The moment that marked the beginning of this stage in my life was when I started using one of my dad’s old boards and I caught my first wave by myself. At this moment, I felt capable of surfing and I wanted to continue, learn and improve. I gradually started getting more and more interested and obsessed with surfing. At the start, I would only surf for about an hour with my dad, now I surf up to 5 hours straight, with or without him. I have gone on surf trips to Dominical, Santa Teresa, Ollie’s Point, Witch’s Rock, Marbella, Junquillal and Ostional. My home break is Avellanas and I would never trade that beach for anything else, it is simply perfect and I have grown to be comfortable and attached to it. Here is a recent picture of me surfing:

Even before I started surfing, I was always connected with the ocean. I love the ocean with all of my heart because it has such a great influence in my life, specially since I have been living next to it since I was born. I enjoy sport fishing even though I don’t do it as often anymore, because it has helped me become aware of the consequences and the importance of marine conservation and environmental care in general. Ecosystems need to be healthy and through fishing I learned how to care for the marine animals and take only what is worth it and truly necessary. The key for everything in life is balance. 

Coming in contact with marine wildlife made me fall in love with the ocean and its’ wonders even more. Out on the boat I’ve seen manta rays and billfish jumping, turtles mating and dolphins swimming and playing around the boat. Once, I even swam around the boat with dolphins that just happened to appear when we had stopped to take a break from fishing. I used to be jealous of people who went to vacation at Hawaii and would come back bragging about how they got to swim with dolphins at an aquarium, but not anymore! I got to experience this out in nature without any obligation from the dolphins! You don’t even need to go out on a boat or to an aquarium to experience this, the magic happens surfing or simply swimming too; you see stingrays chasing you around or flipping and jumping in the air, fish swimming next to you, turtles popping up ahead of you or baby ones climbing onto your hand or board, etc. 

Exploring the sea is remarkable, until you find human footprints, and it becomes devastating. Floating piles of trash, marine animals stuck in plastic or found dead due to intoxication from plastic ingestion or simply trash washed up or thrown on the beach. It really sparks my anger and I can’t believe this is how people treat the only home we have. With unhealthy marine ecosystems, we won’t have an ocean to enjoy, sea food to savor and soon enough we won’t have an Earth to live on because the imbalance will be irreversible. I have always appreciated time spent outdoors, specially at the beach or in the ocean, and all my experiences in nature have shaped me into who I am now and have driven me to become protective of it. I believe that not only love and passion for the environment and animal life should be what inspire people to take care of it, but at this point, simply the fact of assuring having a planet to live on; which is why I want to raise awareness and work towards a healthier and cleaner world. 

Every day I work on becoming a positive, patient and outstanding leader. I want to make a change in this world and help save the planet. I’m proud of myself for choosing a healthy lifestyle and becoming a surfer because it has helped me become the best version of myself possible. I try to make my surf sessions last as long as possible because surfing and the sea are like meditation for me, it helps clear my mind and become aware of my surroundings. When surfing, you really need to be there, in the moment, because anything could happen; a set could come, someone could run you over or throw their board at you, etc. Whenever I feel down, the ocean is always there for me, it is a place where I can go think and do something I enjoy to calm myself and be able to think clearly. Not just when I am surfing, but every day, I try to stay positive because it is so easy to let yourself go and sink in with all the issues happening worldwide. It’s tough staying positive when there are so many people out there suffering for conflicts that aren’t their fault, entire ecosystems being destroyed just for the needs of selfish humans and simply ignorant people who go about without even being aware of this. I utilize my love and passion for the ocean and surfing to reflect on my life and surroundings so I can appreciate what I have and continue forward with a positive mindset and ready to overcome any inconveniences.

My Aspirations

I’m not 100% sure of where I am heading in life but I know I want to make a difference. I am interested in studying Business Management and incorporating my environmental knowledge and conservation skills into a business to hopefully make a change in the world. A business that has greatly inspired me is Patagonia; they really go through a lot of trouble to make their products sustainable, environmentally friendly and the company is a huge success. Something I would like to achieve in these upcoming weeks is to actually sell some of the natural surf wax that I brought into the school store, it is a small change for surfers that can make a big difference in the environment because regular surf wax uses petrochemicals and is not biodegradable. I also want to help my neighbor (who is distributing these waxes) with marketing the product so surfers in the area collaborate and become aware of the environmental importance and impact. Another specific goal in the near future is to help restore the Avellanas mangrove in collaboration with ConnectOcean, which is basically my entire CAS project, but I would like to add my own creative twist which I still have to develop. Other specific goals I have for my future in the long run is to travel and surf some of the most famous spots worldwide because I want to explore nature and experience new waves.

My Work

I work the hardest and put my best efforts in to pretty much anything I do as long as it interests me and is important to me, for example school and surfing. My dad has always told me that if I’m going to start something, I have to finish it, do it well and never leave it “a medio palo” which is a Costa Rican expression for not finishing it and basically abandoning it. A few skills or types of work I have learnt to do well are math, marketing products and many arts and crafts. I enjoy and understand math really well, I learn it fairly quickly and form part of the advanced math class which trains to participate in the Costa Rican math olympics. During the trimester I worked in the marketing team for the school store, I felt like I developed the skill properly and used my strong passion for nature to promote sustainability. I am creative and enjoy painting, coloring, crafting and drawing. My grandma is a painter and I believe I got the talent from her; since I was little I was always into art and over the years I have practiced and learnt new skills and used different mediums.