LAUNCH

These are my original answers to the LAUNCH/DRAFT questions that Dr. Preston assigned:

• What am I passionate about?  What do I want to do?

I am passionate about preservation and sustainability; especially when it comes to nature.  My true passion is Yosemite.  I know that this is very strange answer, but passion is defined as a barely controllable emotion and Yosemite is where my heart lies.  For years I have thought to myself how I could turn this passion into a legitimate lifestyle and I have come up with a very detailed plan.  Hopefully it follows through.  To save you the burden or reading my entire plan I'll just summarize.  In the future, I want to combine the sustainable aspect of environmental engineering with the structural aspect of civil engineering to draw more people to national and state parks by making Earth's natural beauties more accessible to people.  It's impossible for people not to appreciate the sun setting over Half Dome after a long day of exploring Yosemite Valley or powerful waterfalls tumbling over granite cliffs.  If more people, see these places, my hopes are that they will establish a larger respect for the environment.  For this class, I would like to engage willing students in a trip to Yosemite that will be guided by the Nature Bridge program to learn about environmental threats and what we can do to prevent them from getting worse.

• How can I use the tools from last semester (and the Internet in general)?

The main tool that I can use from last semester, and this one, is Dr. Preston's open mindedness.  I can/have also use the Internet to research the program and contact representatives.

• What will I need to do in order to "feel the awesomeness with no regrets" by June?

Yosemite, Yosemite, Yosemite, Yosemite, Yosemite, Yosemite, Yosemite......

Get my point?

• What will impress/convince others (both in my life and in my field)?

All I need to do is draw people in and have some facts to share, nature's beauty will do the rest of the work.

• How will I move beyond 'What If' and take this from idea --> reality?

I'm doing it...

• Who will be the peers, public, and experts in my personal learning network?

The peers and public will be anyone willing to listen and learn.  My experts would be the Nature Bridge guides and hopefully some Yosemite Rangers!

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After about two weeks of talking to classmates and feeling out this idea, all systems are go!  I was worried about whether or not my classmates would be willing to take part in something like this and felt uplifted when I heard/saw their reactions to my idea!  Now that I know what I'm going to do, I need to work out the details.  

• Dr. Preston recommended recruiting interested peers and planning a time during summer to go in order to avoid dealing with getting permission from the school.  I still like the idea of doing it during the school year so I don't want to rule it out yet, but if obstacles do begin to form, I will definitely try for summer.  
• Another question is how long we want to go for.  It obviously costs more the longer that we stay so I need to get feedback from students about what they are willing to do, and how we will pay for it.
• The last question that seems the easiest, but is actually the most important is if the Naturebridge program even has dates left to accomadate us.  Hopefully they do!
• My plan is to talk with Preston a little bit more and form a list of questions for call and ask the Naturebridge program in order to get this running!