Goodbye Mentorship

I am very thankful that I was given the opportunity to volunteer at the Arcadia Arboretum this year. The information I was taught by my mentor, Tim Philips, is something I will always cherish. Getting the chance to work with such educated people in this field gave me the chance to see what it really is like being an actual horticulturist. I will miss the experiences I have learned there. I will also miss working in the greenhouses and with Ivonne in the mentorship office. But, I think I will visit from time to time and possibly volunteer every once in a while.

Blog 25: Mentorship

    Literal

• Mentorship Log
• Ivonne Escobedo (626) 821-3233

Interpretive

    I feel I am very lucky to have had this mentorship. I have seen and had hands on experienced with what it is like to work with plants, that not only native to the United States, but from places such as Africa, Australia, and, Japan. I had the pleasure to propagate plants in a green house and water and care for them. Although it was and is a lot of work, I still enjoyed the hands on experience. I also took pleasure in working at the mentorship office with Ivonne, because with out her giving me a volunteer position I would most likely not be able to work with plants. I had the opportunity to talk with and meet many people that had such an interest and an immense knowledge about plants and I am thankful that they shared information with me as well. 

   Applied

     Since I had the pleasure of talking and networking their, I always had someone to interview. Durning these interview, it would help lead me to an answer or give me some ideas on what to research next. My interviews helped me with my answers. I feel my third interview was the best because it cleared my doubt about my second answer.

     Also, getting a chance to see hands on how my two answers (planning a garden and healthy soil) can really benefit a garden. At the Arcadia Arboretum we are not allowed to plant flowers with out checking the soil and planning out the flower type and its needs. If someone neglects to do so, the plant usually dies or is discolored due to the fact of a lack of nutrients. We are constantly composting and adding it to our soil to make sure it is at the upmost condition. 
At the arboretum, the gardeners always plan out the garden to see where they will plant the flowers, vegetables, or trees before actually doing so. They take into consideration of the sun location, the space, and the season. They never plant flowers without considering those things. Seeing how my two answers was applied in the arboretum really gave me the confidence that was needed when researching my answers. 

Easter Fun at the Arboretum!

Today while trying to find parking, I noticed the arboretum was much more crowded then it usually is. To my surprise they were having an easter event and instead of helping out in the membership office, today I got to help out with an easter egg hunt! It was so much fun to help set up and watch little kids pick up eggs. They had a variety of booths like face painting, scavenger hunts, planting flowers, and food! Since, I am a volunteer I got free food which was nice :) The whole event kind of reminded me of a big I-fest. I wish I could of taken more picture but I was so busy it was difficult.

I tried to take a photo of all the booths, but since it was so crowded it was quite difficult.

Egg hunt :) 

Another picture of the egg hunt.

Mentorship Fun Day

Yesterday at the arboretum all the tasks where finished early since there were many volunteers. All the other volunteers left early but I had to stay there for another hour do to the fact I knew there would be traffic on the freeway. Since I was sitting in the mentorship office bored out of my mind with another volunteer, this lady (Ivonne's substitute for the day) told us we could walk around the arboretum for fun since we were done early.
Even though it was freezing it was still fun to walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery for a hour. The peacefulness of the arboretum helped clear my mind and allow me to forget about senior project and such things...well at least for a little bit.

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 hours Check

1. I am currently doing my mentorship hours at the Arcadia Arboretum.
2. My contact is Ivonne Escobedo and I will email her number to my house teacher.
3. So far I have completed 82 hours of mentorship.
4. Basically, during mentorship, I mail letters to the members of the arboretum such as event schedules, new membership cards, and free subscriptions to Better Homes and Gardens. I also water from time to time. Lately though, Ivonne has taught me to enter "groupons" into the computer to every member so I have been doing that recently.

LINK FOR MEMBERSHIP LOG

Blog 1: Summer Mentorship Component

L: Specific hour log and description

        Contact: Ivonne Escobedo -ivonne.escobedo@arboretum.org

·  
   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtaPOOFsY5NbdHlMa2hMZXd0cWxuVmdHSVdsVDdNMXc#gid=0

L: What questions were raised because of the 10 hour experience? List them.

•  When it comes to different plants, how can I be sure I am watering or planting them correctly?
•       When and why does temperature come into play with plant life?
•        When it comes to certain plants, does the sun actually do more harm than good?
•       What is the average life span of a plant?

I: What is the most important thing you have gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I have gained from this experience was when I had the ability to water and care for the plants. This is the most important thing because the workers allowed me to learn from doing. They showed me the right way to water each plant and how to correctly plant them. I really had fun working with the plants and seeing how each plant needed different needs. I look forward to working with more exotic and more rare types of plant in the future.

A: How did what you did help choose a topic? Please explain.

The topic I am considering for my senior project is horticulture, or the art of garden cultivation and management. I surprised myself when I finally chose horticulture because I never really liked the outdoors or any type of nature to be honest. But, when I watered or cared for plants I found it very relaxing a soothing and found myself enjoying it. Completing my 10 hours at the arboretum really helped me chose this topic because it working there showed me that nature can be beautiful instead of messy and dirty, which is how I saw it before. Working there is really great because it gives me access to different types of plants located all around the world. Even though I haven’t had a chance to work with those types of plants yet, I know I will be able to soon because of the more experience I get every time I go and volunteer at the arboretum.