Journal 5

Going into Colloquium the very first day I'm not going to lie I though this class was going to be boring and a waste of my time, and I was going to drop it, but I gave it a shot and I am glad that I did. I learned so many cool things about the environment in Southwest Florida and the history behind it.


The field trips that we went on made the class a whole lot easier too because it wasn’t like we were stuck in a class room every time. It felt good to get out and see what was going on around the Fort Myers area.

The first field trip that we went on was to Echo and that was an awesome trip, because we got to see actual gardens being set up in all different types of environments. What we learned about there that I though was cool was that they have this thing that I believe is called "Intern weekend" if I’m not mistaken and what they do is for a weekend the people working on the property can only eat the food they have grown and the meat from the goats for the whole weekend, which I thought was awesome because you are eating your own product that you worked hard on growing.

Another trip that I liked was when we went to Downtown Fort Myers. I really liked this trip because I was like a history lesson and I was locked in and focused for the whole trip. We were able to learn about some history about Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, we were able to see replica ships of the Nina and Pinta, and also to finish the day we had some really awesome pizza at the Downtown House of Pizza.

To wrap it up this class was more than I expected it to be and I am really glad that I took it with Professor Borden. She is hands down one of the best teachers that I have had at this University. She is caring and wants you to have fun and makes learning in this class very interesting and fun. I can honestly say that I have learned a lot in this class, because of the way Professor Borden has thought it and I would recommend for everyone to take here for Colloquium.

Word Count: 391

Journal 4

In this Colloquium class I learned a lot about different types of species in Southwest Florida, some of them I knew a good amount about, and some other species were new to me. However the two things that I wanted to talk about are the American Alligator or "All-igator" and Alligator flags.

Even though I am scared of them the American Alligator are very special animals. They have been around for a very long time and are very dangerous animals. It is a known fact that alligators use an incredible amount of force to clamp their jaws on their prey, but however even though they can clamp down really hard they are extremely weak when it comes to opening up their mouths. A person could hold the jaws closed of an alligator with no problem; that is how weak the alligator is when it comes to opening their mouth. Besides from have a killer bite another thing to be aware about with the alligator is its vicious tail. Many people underestimate the alligator think its bite is the only thing to worry about, but its tail is also strong, strong enough to break bones with a single whip. They are also very after and could run up to 30 MPH in short bursts, which makes these animals very dangerous.

Earlier settlers had to deal with this problem when first arriving to this southern area of Florida, but luckily they had an advantage on their side which came in the form of "alligator flags". These flags were swamp plants and let people know how deep the water was and also if there were any predators like the alligator nearby. All they had to do was look and listen and if there was movement in the swamp and the flags were going than they knew that there was probably and alligator on the move. If these "warning" flags were not available to early settlers than I believe that it would have been hard for them to survive.


                                                              Word Count: 335

Journal 3

During my semester in University Colloquium I was able to go on numerous field trips. These trips included a trip to Fort Myers Beach, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, as well as Downtown Fort Myers. The trip that I would really like to voice my opinion on would have to be our trip to Downtown Fort Myers. 

Going into the trip I didn’t know what to expect as because we were pretty much going into a normal city, but I was wrong because Downtown Fort Myers has a lot of history to it as I found out. When we pulled into the bus parking lot and got off the bus we were in for a surprise, because tied up to the dock were exactly replicas of the Nina and Pinta ships that Christopher Columbus used on his voyage of traveling the seas. That was a great surprise and lucky for us to get to see. 

We also learned some cool stories on the trip as well, for instance there was a flag pole that was there and we learned that at the ceremony to raise the flag for the first time there were heavy winds and the four maintenance workers who were elected to raise the flag had a hard time raising it due to the wind and were knocked down to the ground during the ceremony. This was very surprising to me to think that a flag could knock four people to the ground. 

Another cool thing that we save was a fountain that had alligators and stuff in the water and camped around a bon fire were three men and those men turned out to be Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison. That was pretty amazing to think that these three people helped to make the car better. Thomas Edison provided the lights for the Ford eventually, and Harvey Firestone provided the tired to make the car be able to roll down the street. 

All in all we saw many other cool things like the first bank in the Downtown area, the Lee county courthouse, and a place that is well known in that area which is Hotel Indigo. Also along a side wall we were able to see a tile mural that had Buffalo Soldiers, Seminole Indians, farmers, as well as cattle portrayed in it which was amazing, because has been said that mural has been there for a while. If you have any spare time and have nothing planned one day then I would defiantly recommend taking a trip to Downtown Fort Myers and just take in all the history.

Word Count: 433



Journal 2: ECHO field trip

About two weeks about we went to this place called ECHO in Fort Myers. After seeing the video in class I had an "this place is going to be boring attitude", but however the day before the field trip I told myself that I was going to have an open mind about it and try to have fun and just give it a shot, boy was I glad that I did. The place turned out to be pretty cool. Getting up in the morning for the trip was the hardest part, but once we got there it was interesting.

The first place we were taken to was a spot where we saw inventions with like common things that you would be able to fine lying around somewhere in the garage possibly. Like there was a thing called a rocket oven that would hold all the bad smoke because in developing countries they tend to cook their food over an open fire and breathe in the bad smoke which really messes up there breathing and lungs. Also the liter lights were cool to see because it is cost effective and you are using supplies that you have lying around the house that you don’t use once they are empty.

 

Next we saw some bamboo then another thing that was interesting to me was the duck pond or "the circle of life". This was interesting because of the whole process that goes on. The ducks are kept in a cage house at night that has holes at the bottom and is built over a pond that tilapia are in. Well the ducks get fed and sleep in the cage at night and their poop falls into the pond, which is then eaten by the algae, then the algae is eaten by the tilapia, and finally the people net the pond and catch the tilapia and eat them along with the duck eggs.

The last two things that I found interesting and want to talk about is the Moringa and the "miracle berry". I found the Moringa interesting because it is used for so many things. I found out that it can be eaten because it has amazing nutrition’s like victims a, b, and c as well as a good source of calcium. The Moringa is also known to help promote breast feeding in women. The one thing that surprised me about the Moringa is that it can be used as a water purifier by putting some of the leaves crushed up into a water bottle with some dirty water and you shake it up and let it bake in the sun for a little and you have fairly healthier drinking water. Now the "miracle berry" was pretty sweet in my mind because all you have to do is eat one beery and it makes everything that you eat taste sweet for about four hours. This would be great for patients going through chemotherapy because usually they don’t want to eat but if everything would taste sweet to them then it is more possible that they will eat on their own. I really believe that the "miracle berry" will be the future of medicine.

Overall this was a great field trip and I am glad that I had the opportunity to go. It was a great experience and I can say that I learned a lot of new things.

Word Count: 564

Journal 1

Waking up in the morning on a Saturday at my dad’s house in Cooper City, Florida was the best feeling when I was a little kid. This is mainly because I lived in an awesome neighborhood. We had kids my age up and down the street, so everybody was always doing something active outside on the weekend. We would play touch football games in the middle of the street, hit ground balls to each other for practicing baseball, and at night time we would play man hunt because it wasn’t too dangerous due to the amount of street lights we had on our block.

In our neighborhood we were very fortunate to not have a lot of cars that would come down our street so our games wouldn’t be interrupted too much by the famous two words "car coming". The weather was always perfect because we had a lot of trees that’s branches would shade the street so we wouldn’t get too hot and also when it rained it made for a good shelter at times.

Now hands down the best thing about my neighborhood was that I could open door to our fence in the back yard, walk about six houses down, and be at the local sports complex field, Bill Lips. This place is where I played a lot of my little league baseball, football, and soccer. They had everything there like baseball fields, soccer fields, a football field, and even a play set if you just wanted to go there and hang out. I remember waking up some days and going outside and smelling the fresh cut grass of the fields nearby and I was just ready and pumped up for my baseball game later in the day. It was the best feeling growing up and being able to have all the opportunities that I did in my neighborhood to have as much fun as I was able too.

Word Count: 322