A) My name is Jennifer Mikhli and I am currently a sophomore attending Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College. I am a psychology major and am pursuing a career in the medical field. I hope to  go on to medical school where I will subsequently specialize in an area of medicine that ultimately locks my interest. However, on my journey towards my career goals and even after I obtain them, I do not plan on staying  planted within the boundaries of the thoroughly explored and dissected arenas of science, but rather, I hope to be at the forefront of new scientific breakthroughs through my future engagement  in scientific research.

B) I am excited about thIs seminar course introducing me to the value of informal science and the profound notion of scientific diversity. All throughout my formal years of schooling, science has been strictly  confined to the information presented in my chemistry, physics, biology, and other such textbooks. However, science, along with the ability to derive new scientific findings, is all around us, lurking in the natural environments far beyond our lecture halls. This seminar will broaden my mind, as it will teach me a flexibility and attainability about science that I had never been exposed to within a rigid academic setting.  I will learn the skills to think independently and derive my own scientific findings, as opposed to relying on the information presented before me. This broadened mindset will inevitably allow me to become a better scientific researcher, as I will learn that scientific information lingers all around me, I just have to open my mind to it.

C) The BioBlitz was a 24-hour exercise that involved the logging of  the biodiversity lurking within the Central Park ecosystem. Along with members of the Central Park Conservancy and biologists, Macaulay sophomores were split up into various groups that corresponded to the specific  life form that the group needed to look out for and catalogue. I was placed in the bird group, as I eagerly tried to capture on camera the vast species of birds that whirled around me in the North Woods section of the park. My group’s findings, along with the others,  are highly significant as they help shape the conservancy methods of the park. Essentially, the changes in biodiversity recorded by the BioBlitz provide a guide to the conservationists, as they go about trying to preserve the biodiversity that Central Park so eagerly offers. The exercise also instills a senese of appreciation for different animal and plant species, allowing us both the ability to recognize the value of local parks and the desire to conserve them.

D) I had the opportunity to speak to my group guide who was a biologist himself. He spoke of the BioBlitz with such zeal and excitement, as he stressed the importance of the event, saying how it was “a contribution to mother nature.” He taught us how the BioBlitz was far more important than what it would mean to Macaulay or my seminar class, in that it had a profound impact on the preservation of  the rich array of biological specimens gracing Central Park. My guide went on to say that the last BioBlitz conducted ten years ago, aided in the return of raccoons to the park, as the blitz reported the near extinction of them within the area. This resulted in the removal of the trash receptacles in some areas that consequently brought about the return of the furry creature. That simple example was all that was needed to elucidate the motivation behind volunteering in such a task. Through his and our volunteering, we  had become part of something important; we were helping in the preservation of a vast array of life in that area.

E) I believe that the activity benefits New York City greatly. The BioBlitz promotes a sense of appreciation for the nature and biodiversity that comprises the grand expanses of Central Park. Such an appreciation fosters a desire to preserve the grounds and keep it as organic and natural as it is now, along with the biodiversity living in its midsts. Thus, as denizens of the area, we can derive much benefit from the grounds, as it provides us with an opportunity to look upon and study a diverse list of specimens. We are able to step out of our urban confines, and observe the disparate life forms inhabiting the pastoral retreat of New York City. And the BioBlitz does a great job in reminding us of that, as it exhibited its prowess on yours truly.

F)  Overall, I really appreciated the BioBlitz experience. I am very much a big believer in the conservation of natural outposts, and thus, I was very appreciative of this endeavor, as it was aimed at the preservation of the biodiversity inhabiting the Central Park area. I loved how we were able to immerse ourselves into the biodiversity that consumes the park, allowing  us to truly understand the value of our local park. It was a great introduction to the realm of informal science that we will venture in this course, as it taught us that science has the ability to escape the colorful images in our textbooks and flap its way into our everyday realities. However, I would have liked the ability to have catalogued more than one life form. Perhaps, I may venture there on my own accord one day and fully examine the biological diversity that inhabits the bucolic gem that we have come to know as Central Park.