Blog Post 15

Today was my last day of SCORE. Looking back at my experience I can say I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I have heard so many other kids talking about how much they hated SCORE and how it was a chore, but that is the opposite for me. I actually looked forward to going into SCORE everyday and that is something I am thankful for. Maybe it was because I got to hang out with two of my best friends every day, but the environment that Ramona and her fellow helpers provided for us was perfect. Ramona was the perfect advisor for my fellow interns and I. She was so concerned about If we were happy with what we were doing and whether we were getting what we intended to out of our internship. I never grew tired of doing the same old task because we were constantly switching things every day. We also did a great amount of traveling around the North Shore to new Trustees Reservations. Many of the places that I worked at I had never been to before. This added an element of surprise because most of the reservations were amazing places. Some of these places such as Ravenswood and Coolidge I even plan on returning to after my internship is completed. Knowing that I just completed one of the last events of my senior year leaves me feeling rather sad, but I am happy knowing that really I could not have chosen a better SCORE project.

Blog Post 14

Today at SCORE my fellow interns and I helped out with another fieldtrip. This time the fieldtrip was for kids in Kindergarten from Gloucester instead of Ipswich middle school kids. The trip took place at Ravenswood and Ramona told us that we would be following up the back of the field trip and making sure that no child wandered off into the woods. I was expecting a few kids to show up. Instead over thirty little kids were waiting for us when we arrived. The kids were brimming with excitement and even though there was a slight drizzle they did not seem to mind. Ramona told us that these field trips are so important because they get the youth involved in conservation at an early age. The kids are the future and if they do not care about the environment then no body will, but back to the field trip. We started out walking on the Childs Path. The Child’s Path is basically a side trail that has very basic terrain that allows kids to walk along and get involved with the nature around them. Our job was extremely easy because about every single kid was accompanied by his or her mother. Maybe it was because they did not trust eighteen year olds watching after their kids, but it essentially created much less work for us. We kept trying to get involved, but it was hard with so many adults there to help out Ramona. In the end we just spent the better part of the day observing little kids running around while their parents chased them in hot pursuit. 

Blog Post 13

For SCORE today Liam, Taylor, and I spent the day getting rid of another invasive species. This time the species was called Garlic Mustard. Garlic Mustard actually looks like a flower, but it grows at an alarming rate and kills all other flowers around it. Liam had the task of removing the Garlic Mustard on Friday, but he did not properly dispose of it. Liam spent two hours on his hands and knees weeding the entire population of Garlic Mustard. Unfortunately he then dumped all of the Garlic Mustard into a hole in the ground. When we arrived at Coolidge this morning Dan was not pleased with what Liam had done. He informed us that Garlic Mustard is extremely resilient and it will just start growing again if it is left in the wild. Something to do with the seeds of the flower allows them to fall off of the dead plant and just start growing again. Instead of disposing of them in the wild they have to be burned or thrown away in a dump. That left Liam, Taylor, and I the task of recollecting the Garlic Mustard and transporting it to the Coolidge truck. We did this using two wheelbarrows and a forty-gallon trash bag. After we put all of the Garlic Mustard into the trash bag we dragged it across the property and gave it to Dan. I guess the lesson that can be learned from today is that it is easier to do a job well once than it is to do it two times poorly. 

Blog Post 12

For SCORE today Liam, Taylor, and I spent another day helping with field trip at Castle Hill. This time the group of students was larger but they were actually better behaved. Girls dominated the group, which is probably the reason as to why there was less misbehaving. This time the students seemed to take an interest in the material presented and it made the filed trip a million times easier Once again the students loved the animal station the most of all. The job assigned Liam, Taylor, and I was to take pictures of the field trip. The Ipswich School wanted to use them and the Trustees are constantly looking for publicity. We took pictures of about everything we could think of. The kids also seemed to love posing for pictures and took it upon themselves to “photo bomb” any picture they saw us taking. The best pictures that we were able to take were from on top of the Crane Estate. There was not a cloud in the sky and the day was picturesque. This time we also received a tour of Crane manor and saw the bedrooms of the two youngest children. Their rooms were incredibly lavish and they each had enormous private bathrooms, which is no surprise considering their father was a famous plumber. We were not able to receive a tour of the rest of the house because apparently they were readying for some function in the near future. Hopefully one time we will be able to see the rest of the estate because I am curious as to what the master bedroom looks like. 

Blog Post 11

Another well spent day at the Trustees. Today we spent the day providing trail maintenance at the Ravenswood properties. Trail work is necessary because many of the trails become over grown or debris like trees block the paths.  Taylor and I grabbed saws and hedge clippers and started out on one of the long looping paths. Along the way we stopped to clip and trim various hanging branches until we came to one tree that had been destroyed by beavers. The tree was hanging at a precarious angle and we made the decision to cut it down. The tree was rather large and we were scared that in the future it would fall on someone walking on the paths. At first we could get our saws all the way through the wood because it was wet but after a long effort we had success. We cut the tree so that it fell down backwards and did not crush the boards that line the swamp walk way. At the same time we were very careful not to crush the beaver habitat that had been built on the other side of the plank walkway. After this we dragged the tree trunk away from the path. This was one of the best days I have had at the Trustees to date. The sun was out all day long and I really felt that Taylor and I were able to accomplish some good work. In the future I hope we can do more trail maintenance because I would rather do trail work than simple labor like raking leaves. 

Blog Post 10

For SCORE today we spent the day working with Dan at Coolidge. Coolidge is also known as the Great Lawn and it is located in Magnolia. We were given the task of moving a large amount of leaves from one corner of the property to the other. Unfortunately the Coolidge property truck was out of service and we had to transport the leaves by hand. This required two of us to rake the leaves from the piles we collected and put them on top of a large blue tarp. After we collected a significant amount of leaves we folded up the corners of the tarp and prepared to drag it to the burn pile. The burn pile was conveniently located on the other side of the property so the walk over was long and arduous. We proceeded to repeat this process for the better part of two hours and we still had hardly made a dent in the massive leaf pile. This type of hard manual labor work is what makes me appreciate the days with Ramona. I know this work is mindless but at the same time it is essential to the Trustees. Without the help of employees and volunteers up keeping the grounds the Trustees would not be able to maintain so many expansive properties. Knowing that we are being useful in out efforts is what makes the mindless work not so bad. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a less arduous day.