Here’s an article in the Press Democrat about the outreach I took part in last week at SSU:
Photo from Press Democrat
ELOÍSA RUANO GONZÁLEZ
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | July 13, 2017, 9:13PM
It was a campus takeover.
Hundreds of elementary and middle school children swarmed the cafeteria, dorms, quads and halls of Sonoma State University Thursday for what’s becoming an annual tradition.
It’s the second year the Rohnert Park campus has hosted “I Am the Future Day” for the Sacramento nonprofit Roberts Family Development Center, which provides academic and other services to hundreds of economically disadvantaged children and their families. The event is intended to give children a “taste of college” to encourage them to pursue higher education.
“Scientists across the country are increasingly interested in communicating directly with the public, media and elected officials in the wake of President Trump’s inauguration.” Read the full article here: Scientists Increasingly Speak Out – Scientific American
I had the opportunity to attend a couple of fantastic events this week sponsored by ieSonoma (Innovate, Educate, Sonoma).
On Tuesday night, I attended the keynote address: “The Art of Possibility” by Benjamin Zander. He is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and he’s also an inspirational speaker who encourages a great deal of participation from his audience. Right from the start, he got us involved by inviting anyone who chose to do so to come up and sit on the stage with him. It seemed like a good idea, so my friend, Kandis, and I both decided to take him up on his offer. (You’ll see me in some of the photos below . . . I’m wearing a purple shirt). These photos were grabbed from the SSU Department of Education’s Flickr:
Rather than trying to describe his talk, I’ll just point you in the direction of this video – this is some of the same material he shared with us, and I highly recommend giving it a watch:
There are a few things I took away with me that seem worthwhile to share. For example, the rationale behind asking people to come sit on the stage went something like this: when people enter a room, and decide where to sit, it’s an indication of how they “show up” in their lives, and that people who make the choice to sit in the very front row are open to being exposed, rather than “hiding” by sitting farther back. Hearing that did give me some added motivation to get up and sit on the stage, when he offered that option.
I also really liked what he had to say about how we can empower others by the way we are in our lives. I think what stuck most was the idea that we can know that we’re reaching other people when their eyes “shine.” I do like the thought of asking myself, “How am I being right now, if my students’ eyes aren’t shining?”
My very favorite part, though, was near the end, when he encouraged everyone present to sing the “Ode to Joy” movement from Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken. Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder Was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen werden Brüder Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Now, I can honestly say that I have sung onstage in the Green Music Center! Haha!
A complete photo album from the evening is available on the SSU School of Education’s Flickr: “The Art of Possibility”
This semester, one of the questions I asked on the final exam (to give them a freebie) was to ask them their favorite organism that we looked at during the course. I’m posting a few of my favorite responses here.
I found this one particularly touching:
“Thank You. You’ve actually caught my interests in science, which I never felt smart enough for. You’re also one of the most understanding and empathetic professors I’ve had, which helped with my severe anxiety disorder.”
This is so important to me. Being able to touch people’s lives in a positive way . . . well, that’s why I’m doing this. It feels really good to know that, at least some of the time, I’m hitting the mark.
I received this gift on the last day of class from one of my biology students. She’d grown it from a cutting . . . not only is the plant adorable, but it came with this (scientifically accurate!) caption:
“Asexual plants: only 1 parent required. Parent passes all its genes to offspring. Identical offspring, splits the contents of one cell into two.”
This makes me so happy. 🙂
Later, I found this comment at the bottom of her final exam:
I used this story to end the semester in Conservation Biology (it seemed appropriate – I started the semester with penguins, so I thought I’d end that way, too). I’m really just posting it here, though, for the gratuitous cuteness of the dog and the baby penguin. It is a presh story, and worth reading, though.
“The Maremma sheepdog is a livestock guardian dog breed from Italy that has protected sheep from wolves for centuries. These dogs are also the devoted guardians of a colony of Little penguins, the smallest penguin species, on a small Australian island called Middle Island. Why do these penguins need guard dogs? Check out this amazing story.”
. . . as part of the Sonoma Land Trust’s 40th Anniversary Speaker’s Series. I’m super excited about this opportunity – any chance to talk about cool local wildlife sounds amazing to me! Information from their website reproduced below.
40th Anniversary Speaker Series
Wild Animals of Sonoma County
As part of the celebrations for our 40th Anniversary, and in view of the overwhelming interest we’ve received for our work on wildlife corridors, we are offering a very special series of talks about the fascinating wildlife of Sonoma County.
Animals of Our Creeks, Rivers and Marshes
by Wendy St. John
May 11 (Wednesday), 6:30—8:30pm, at the Petaluma Community Center, 320 N McDowell Blvd., Petaluma Free
Here in Sonoma County, we are fortunate to have a variety of freshwater systems that support a rich diversity of animal and plant life. Our marshes, wetlands, streams, rivers, lakes and ponds provide habitat for many native and at-risk species. Wendy St. John, a professor in both the Biology and Environmental Studies and Planning departments of Sonoma State University will focus on some of the wildlife found in these watery habitats, such as beaver and otter, steelhead and salmon, turtles and lizards, and maybe even a few plants!
One of the assignments I give my intro biology students is called “Dragon Genetics,” in which they determine the alleles (versions of genes) that a baby dragon will inherit from its parents. Then, I ask them to create an accurate image of the dragon, based on the inherited traits. Most of the students use a dollmaker (from this site). Here’s one I created as an example:
I love to see their dollmaker dragons, but occasionally, I’ll have a few students who do the artwork entirely by hand. Here are some examples from this semester:
I might be biased, but this is a fantastic video about western pond turtles . . . the segment starting at 5:00 features the field site where I did my thesis research. The fellow being interviewed is my advisor, Nick Geist. And that’s your’s truly measuring the turtles in preparation to release them back into the lake. SO FAMOUS! 🙂
On Tuesday night, I attended the keynote address: “The Art of Possibility” by 
One of the assignments I give my intro biology students is called “Dragon Genetics,” in which they determine the alleles (versions of genes) that a baby dragon will inherit from its parents. Then, I ask them to create an accurate image of the dragon, based on the inherited traits. Most of the students use a dollmaker (
