Campus Ecology 2005

Jim Farrell and Milena Klimek

I was asked last spring to consider co-teaching the Campus Ecology class started by Elise Braaten and Jim Farrell not even a year ago. At the time I was nervous on many levels to say yes to such a project. My first concern was that I already had a focus for my senior project and my required workload of classes I needed to take for graduation. And my second main concern was a combination of fear in taking a leadership position in front of a class that would be expecting to hear the amazing words that inevitably flow from a professor with 28 years of experience, versus my very terrified perspective of having class ready for college students.

I obviously ended up taking the challenge, and thinking of it exactly as that, a challenge. I would work on my comfort level of speaking in front of others, and Jim encouraged me to see my position as a positive one, one of sharing my experiences and essentially being an example to other students of one direction or option that they may want to take in their stay or studies at St. Olaf.

This class focuses on creating an active community in a safe environment, by discussing personal consequences, impacts and involvement in a St. Olaf student's place: the St. Olaf campus. By reading and discussing poetry, essays, reports, websites, visiting our electrical plant, cafeteria, natural lands, and sharing ideas on plot projects, and group research topics through public presentations, a chapel service and annotations of the campus, this class seems to create a desired community. All of the issues discussed help us, the students, understand our place and our effects on place, creating a comfortable forum to converse and think about topics that were previously invisible to the student's eye, from food procurement to waste management.

Proffessor Gene Bakko Leading a Natural Lands Tour

Having been involved in the class two times now, I can safely say that this type of classroom community is unique and well respected. It is obviously not perfect, having many of the quirks that other classes have, tardy students, lack of reading or in-class participation, but on the whole, this class has been a blessing to be both a part of last year and professing this year. In fact, both last year and this, class goes longer than the bell, due to curiosity and want to discuss more.

Helping co-plan and co-teach this class has generated such growth, mutual exchanges of genuine ideas, thoughts, wisdom, and community. I have tried my best to extend my comfort zone to the edge of the table in front of the class and being active both behind the scenes and in the class. I have a new found respect for professors, understanding now how much time is spent preparing for a single class, not to mention a semester. To facilitate discussions, understanding student comments, relating them to other comments or connections is also a task of a professor, and quite impressive when handled correctly. And with any class there is time spent grading and receiving feedback from your class, which in turn, creates even more of a community.

Here I am Teaching Class

Personally, it has been truly wonderful for me to see some of my original ideas come to fruition through this class. Plot Projects, an concept that I got from a project I was assigned to complete my junior year of high school at the Zoo School , was an idea for students to expand our class outside of our physical classroom and into the natural lands and grounds of the campus. To pick a plot of land and watch it change from winter to spring to the beginning of summer is to begin to know the land. Focusing on history, specific species, uses, future, and feelings around the plot, the assignment was vague to ensure creative ideas. Many poems, photographs, sketches, pieces of art, stories and even music were connected to the students experiences, culminating in a public reading and showing of plot projects. To read some of the feelings, ideas, and how students learned from this project was so rewarding. I remember reading my first plot project and crying when realizing how great these projects were going to be. (Link to Plot Project Examples)

I was also able to help include personal sustainability within the campus sustainability focused class. Professor of dance, Sherry Saterstrom, has a class called Body Moveable that other students and myself felt coincided extremely well with what we were learning about in Campus Ecology. Personal sustainability has everything to do with our environment. From the breath of fresh, clean air that sustains our bodies, to the awareness or lack of awareness that we have for our surroundings, helping us meditate, or understand our natural environments, these classes were important to mesh together . We had two opportunities to join classes this year. At one gathering we were able to have a meal together, focusing both on the procurement and the bodily effects of food. At another gathering we congregated in the dance studio and learned how to move, to pay attention, discuss in small groups the relevance of the classes coming together and defining some greater connections. In the end, it was a great excuse to play.

Campus Ecology Class With Sherry Saterstrom

Seeing the transformation of ideas within individual people through class comments or personal journal readings has also been amazing. From these ideas I have learned that we have all learned and grown together. I cannot believe that I had once thought that I might not want to help teach this class. The discussions and community have been so fulfilling. I have thoroughly enjoyed the eagerness, thoughtfulness, inquisitiveness, openness, and directness the class has shared collectively. To increase the Campus Ecology community this year, we will be ending with a grand annotated feast hosted by one or our class members, and the idea to create a Campus Ecology 2 has been solidified, and plans are being made for the class to begin next fall, 2006, and carry on the community, wisdom, and actions of the original Campus Ecology class. (Link to Journal Entrees)

Being a professor is just as much a process of learning and growth as being a student. The life lessons and experiences I have gained from this experience are invaluable and unforgettable. I would love to thank my class and professor Farrell for so much time and patience we have all had for each other in this wonderful community of hope, as well as Elise Braaten for fulfilling her dream, and I encourage her to watch it grow and expand year to year.

Here I am Preparing for Class