SWRS Cribs by Kayla Peña

This past week my new friends and I have been living at the Southwestern Research Station (SWRS). All of the staff and volunteers were unbelievably nice and kept the station running smoothly. We got to experience the beauty that SWRS held and I wanted to make this video so that everyone at home could experience it too. Due to our busy schedule I was not able to film every part of the station or an end to my video, but I tried to include the main parts of the station. SWRS also had a beautiful pool and a large classroom where we held our lessons in the mornings.

As I laid in bed in New York editing this video it made me miss Arizona and SWRS even more. This trip really did change me. I made friends with people that I never would have talked to in school and they quickly became like another family. I love all of our inside jokes and was able to get closer with some of my favorite teachers. This was an experience of a lifetime and I am so thankful that I was able to be apart of this Earth Watch family. I never thought learning could be this fun. Major thanks to Mrs. Lock, Mrs Mancebo, Ms. Calabrese, Dave, and Nikki for making this trip absolutely amazing.

Party on the Airplane- Song written by Asianna

This takes on the melody of party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. Do note some word are dragged to fit. I wrote because I wanted to be cool (lol). 

I hopped on a plane at LGA with my suite case and soon to be friends. 

Welcome to this new experience 

Woah am I gonna fit in ? 

Jumped on the plane, 

Here I am for the first time

Look to my right and All I see are plot lines 

This is all so crazy 

Everything seems so different 

My tummy's turnin' and I'm feelin' kinda home sick

Too many bumps and I'm nauseous 

That's when the piolet turns on the seatbelt sign 

And then my seatbelt was Buckled 

And then my seatbelt was Buckled 

And then my seatbelt was Buckled 

So pulled the strap tight

The light still on 

And the plane is starting to land 

Noddin’ my head yeah movin my hips like yeah 

I got my belt on 

The light is still on 

And I know we’re gonna land okay 

Yeah yeah yeeeahhh 

 I know we’re gonna land okay (x2) 

Get to the hotel with really big bags 

Everybody’s looking at us now 

Like “whose those kids with those three chicks ?

They gotta be from outta town “

So hard with my family not around me, this definitely not  like in New York City. 

Cause all I see is dirt now 

I guess I’ve never got the memo. 

My tummy's turnin' and I'm feelin' kinda home sick

Too many bumps and I'm nauseous

That’s when we land and I see my favorite food 

And I order to take it out 

And I order to take it out 

And I order to take it out 

So I put my cash down 

And I’m paying for food

And I know I’m gonna be okay 

Nodding my head yeah movin my hips like yeah 

I got my food now 

They called my name 

Yeah I know it’s gonna be really good 

Yeah  yueeahhh yeah it’s a party in my tummy (2x)

Feel like hoppin' on a flight (On a flight)

Back to my hometown tonight (Town tonight)

But something stops me every time (Every time)

The Phone plays my song and I feel alright 

So I got my bag now 

We’re heading out now and I know we’re gonna have some fun 

Noddin’ my head yeah movin my hips like yeah 

I got my hopes up 

We’re all in a car and I know I’m gonna fit in okay 

Yeah yeah yeahhhhh it’s a party in SWRS all day 

(2x)

OWL MISS YOU- Posted by Asianna

 OMG today was the last day of the trip which sucked since it was such like a second home to all of us. The trip was amazing and was a fantastic team bonding experience. Honestly at first I didn’t think I was going to get to be as close as I am to the people that I’ve jut traveled with the first day. Making new friends that I would’ve never thought of or never bump into in the hallways is a great feeling.  It was really the great since I’ve got to expand my horizon, as well as interact with different strangers that I can now call my friends. We’ve also met DAVE and NICKEY(I think that’s right spelling) which were practically another set of parents for us, leaving them was the one of the hardest things to do right behind leaving each other since we all have different schedules. The sarcasm and the love they gave was making them the best “parents” in the world. Traveling with them was a great experience. They gave us so much knowledge on something I’m sure none of us would’ve predicted to get out of the trip. The teachers were the best part of bonding. As a group of students getting to know their everyday teachers was not as awkward as you’d think, they were the most chillest people out there. The best part about it is they have an amazing sense of humor, from the corny jokes to  karaoke in the car in school experience is going to be such a big change to make. Oh and the meals with everyone was just so “life changing”, which may sound really dramatic but there’s so much comfort and happiness between us that it was great to just be relieved all the time because we’ve all enjoyed ourselves without the stress. Overall we’ve developed not only as friends but as a new family.

At first I was a bit nervous of how this trip would go. Would I fit in? How would it feel to be away from family? Would this trip change who I am? It’s day 7 and I don’t want to leave, we’ve just meet each other, but we quickly grew onto one another. From long hikes of enjoying the breath taking scenery to just being around each other laughing to the point of where we’ll start crying especially Ms. Lock. It made me feel so good to see her happy for the reason which she has put so much effort into this trip including Ms. Mancebo and Ms. Calabrese. It was truly a pleasure of being part of this expedition, and thanks to Nikki and Dave I have received an experience of not only learning about owls or as Dave refers to these spectacular animals “the pinnacle of evolution”, but also I feel like I changed as an individual. There’s more to life than just being indulged with social media I was a bit skeptical of being involved in a group with people I don’t know besides my buddy, Terrance. That quickly changed when we decided to go hiking after lunch which I must say the food was the best home cooked meals of all time, but anyways we took a picture of us on a bridge, now keep in mind there’s 9 of us and we were on a bridge that felt like it was ready to break. However, that didn’t really matter it was a moment we simply cherished together and that’s how I’ve meet my fellow friends. They’re all so amazing and it’s true some took more time to get used to, but now we’re on the plane back to New York as friends that feel as if we knew each other forever. They all have there own different personalities from Jacob constantly correcting my grammar to Kayla as she in a way reminds me of myself. I thought all Carl Sagan’s students were nerds, yet when I meet Kayla she showed me how amazing they are. Also, how can I forget the rest of our group including the adults as we taught them new slangs such as “in our bag” or “in our cavity.” (Credits to Asianna) Nikki is truly a spectacular individual; she taught me so much about science, owls, and most of all life itself. I’m going to miss our car rides of Terrance singing your country music which I don’t really hate as much...I already miss it. 

"In Dave we trust" - Posted by Shivani Patel

“In Dave we trust” was our motto for a majority of this incredible, life changing trip. It started when we drove up the mountains and we were about five inches away from the edge, and it stuck with us ever since. However, yesterday I thought to myself “In Dave AND NIKKI we trust” because while setting up our 50 m plots we hit a rock wall and one of our teammates got stuck up an extremely steep hill. We yelled to Nikki to come save her and she was there in under a minute. I got stuck up there myself, but Terrence and Nikki guided me down because they know how terrified I am of heights. We truly are “all in this together.”

We worked hard all day with minimal breaks and went back to 8 points that night and went to bed at 1 am. It was very tiring but extremely rewarding at the same time just to know how much you’re contributing to the science community even though our legs were sore, our toes had blisters, and our arms had scrapes by the end of the day. In the end it was all worth it and although we encountered some challenges, we faced them head on.

The car rides are always my favorite part of the day because we blast music and try to come up with lyrics that are applicable to the work we do here. Some of my favorite include:

1). Breaking Free from High School Musical Parody (By Shivani)

They’re soaring, they’re flying

There’s not an owl in Portal that we can’t reach

Yeah we’re trying, but they’re breaking free

Oh they’re breaking free

Can you hear they’re hooting

Like a ghost is boo-ing they refuse to come to

The nets are high up there oooo the night is gone, night is gone

2). Single Ladies by Beyoncé Parody (By Jacob, Nishi, and Kayla)

All the Portal owls, all the Portal owls, all the Portal owls

Now put your nets up up

Up in the tree tree, looking at me me

Doing just what I should

Decided to swoop swoop

Now they wanna hoot hoot

Trying to fly away

 If you like it then you should put a band on it

If you like it then you should put a band on it

Don’t be mad if you can’t get an Elf owl

If you like it then you should put a band on it

Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh ,oh

Oh, oh, oh

Oh ,oh, oh, oh ,oh ,oh

Oh ,oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh ,oh

3). Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus Parody (By Ms. Calabrese)

We have our nets up

We’re playing those calls

The chattering fades away

Watching the skies like yeah

Listening for calls like yeah

We got our headlamps and all of our gear

We’re working the night away

Yeaaaaaaahhh we’re conducting an owl survey

All jokes aside, this has been an amazing trip, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my spring break than meeting new people, making incredible friends, and eating dinner outside while the sun is setting, and lemonade is coming out of our noses because we were laughing too hard. I am extremely grateful for this memorable experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Teamwork Posted by Olivia Perkowski

Today was a day like no other. We learned to work together in a way that none of us have ever experienced before. Sure, we’ve worked in groups in school or played on a sports team, but teamwork like that is different. Working out on the field and stepping out of our comfort zones is new for each and every one of us. 

Today was about being aware and prepared. We each had a different role in every situation and staying focused and alert was very important. Our day started out with a scavenger hunt after breakfast. We broke off into teams of three and began to search. The goal was to identify the five different species of trees that our teachers had flagged, write down the coordinates of where the tree was located and explain how we knew the species. Considering how new we all are at being botanists I would say we all did a pretty good job. 

To many people field work with owls may seem a little simpler than it really is. Personally before this trip, I thought how hard could it really be. I didn’t realize how much equipment and further knowledge was needed. For example we learned how to use a spherical densiometer today. We learned the formulas for counting vegetation and for sky and how to fill all that information onto the data sheet. Once we finished practicing that we realized that we now had all the information to practice filling out the entire data sheet including calculating the dbh, finding the UTM, the type of cavity and tree, and so on. Later, in the afternoon we went out further into the field and practiced setting up a 50 meter cavity plot. Doing this requires a team effort and every one of us had a different role to accomplish. We split up into two teams half of us with Nikki and the other half with Dave. The two teams together made one whole cavity plot and although it wasn’t all perfect we were proud of what we now knew how to do. After dinner we went out for our daily night hike which resulted in us catching a whiskered screech owl and listening to two other different species. At the end of the day we all discussed how working together and working efficiently is beneficial for everyone and although we already knew how important teamwork and communication was, today we reached a new level of understanding.

Becoming Botanists For a Day

     "Botany,-the science of the vegetable kingdom, is one of the most attractive, most useful, and most extensive departments of human knowledge.  It is, above every other, the science of beauty" (Samuel Griswold Goodrich).  This quote accurately describes our third day at the Southwestern Research Station.  We learned the importance and relevancy of botany in not only our days doing field research, but our daily lives.  Living in New York City, we are surrounded by more buildings than trees, so they aren't major parts of our days.  We know the trees are there, but never care to observe them or recognize what they are.  Being in Arizona for three days so far has showed us the variation in plant and tree species as you go from desert to dense forests.  I think we were too mesmerized by the insanely beautiful mountains to even look at the difference in vegetation on our way here.  However, today we became botanists and our viewpoints on trees were forever changed.

     The day began with an activity set up by our teachers to write ideas and questions about the following categories: Owl Research and Fieldwork, Teamwork, and Classroom Connections.  This led to discussions on what our teamwork should be like in the field and how what we have learned in these short few days connects to either our past or present science classes.  We discussed topics like aerodynamics of the owls and how that relates to the curriculum of physics, the importance of good communication and trust in teamwork, and how often data we collect is uploaded.  It was interesting to hear the different ideas some of us had, but also how similar we thought for many things.

     After the morning activity, we learned about how UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) works and its use in the field.  When we collect cavity data for specific locations, the northing and easting are extremely important.  They can be found using the GPS devices we have been using. We moved onto identifying trees based on the samples of leaves and branches we collected, using books about plant species.  This took up a lot of our afternoon because of the difficulty we had trying to match the descriptions or pictures of trees to the samples.  Before even starting, we went over the difference between single and cluster needles and the types of leaves, like simple, compound, alternate, and opposite.  We learned the different types of trees such as oaks, conifers, and sycamores.  Overall this was a fun and challenging experience that I know I will take with me outside of the field research this week.  I think it's safe to say none of us will be able to look at trees the same way again.