Uncategorized – Page 5 – Breighton's Journey

Food Drive for 4-H

I have been working on 2 food drives for 4-H projects. The first was for Dunedin Cares and I collected over 600lbs of food that we dropped at the food bank. The other was for SPC. There is a student grab and go station on campus and I was sad that it was empty. I wanted to do something about it so I helped fill it with more donations and some personal purchases. I was happy when it was full!

Busy Week as Always

This weekend we went to 4-H day at the Florida State Fair. I enjoyed seeing the DPI display, talking to the UF bugs people and seeing all the fair exhibits. We dont do the rides but enjoy the expo halls. I found a cool plant booth and spent far too much on orchids, clippings, succulents and other fun things for landscaping some of my pet cages.

My OCE class had a field trip to the beach to learn about longshore currents. Sadly the experiment didn’t work as planned but we had fun trying. I helped set the lines and dump the dye since most people weren’t willing to go into the water since it was so chilly.

We also had another extra credit talk to attend on bats. Mom and E came to this one and hung out on the other side of the room. I learned more about bats then I ever thought possible! It was a spectacular program.

SPC Honors College Conference

This is my first honors college conference. I opted to take it easy this year and see how all of this is done. I entered my artwork on insect adaptations. I enjoyed sitting through the talks from my class mates and the poster sessions. My favorite part though was talking about my artwork. I love talking bout insects and photography.

My work was selected to represent SPC at the Southern Regional Honors Conference in March in Birmingham, Alabama. I am a bit nervous to travel solo, I will be with the crew from SPC but to me it is solo without immediate family. I have a hotel room to myself and an evening of talking about my artwork. I am excited but nervous. I am the youngest student to be going so I hope that everything works out okay.

I am also serving as an ad hoc member of the education and outreach committee for the Entomological Society of America. I had to login to a zoom call and learn bout what the plans are for the conference in November in Orlando. I was very nervous and couldn’t really get a chance to speak. I am sure things will go better for me on the next call.

Extra Credit

The one thing I like about my classes this term is that I can earn extra credit for attending various events around the county. This week I did three events, Brooker Creek, Moccasin Lake and Tarpon Aquarium. Moccasin Lake Park had a Fantastic Beasts themed event. I got to meat the hawks, learn about snakes, turtles , plants and so much more. Tarpon Aquarium was a fun trip as well. I advent been there since I was really little. I enjoyed the slower pace, spending lots of time talking with the owners and their daughter, Paige. I am excited for their new location soon.

When we got home from the aquarium it was insanely windy. We opted to go fly a kite in the yard. The winds were so strong we moved the kite flying to the park. This front pushing in is going to bring some big storms.

Brooker Creek Insect Outreach

Today I took my collection and vast insect knowledge to Brooke Creek Preserve to help Mr. James with a presentation. Students from SPC were coming out today to learn about insects. I was there to support the program, show my collections and answer questions. We had a lovely time learning about insects in the classroom then went on a longer hike to see what we could find. I was able to help ID specimens and help answer questions along the paths. I absolutely love doing these outreaches. I even wore my SPC hoodie and was introduced as a Dual Enrolled student.