On the beautiful evening of Tuesday, May 23rd, Proctor's annual Innovation Night commenced. The weather was just right, and there were good vibes throughout the event. We showed up at around 5:45 and began to set up our table. We brought over our trifold poster, some snacks and books that were donated in our tag sale, a rolling rack of clothing from Proctors Free Shop, and some donation clothing from our tag sale. We had a great turnout of people interested in our project. Our clothing rack and our assortment of free snacks also attracted many guests. We were able to give away a decent amount of clothing and a portion of the snacks on our table.

Our goal for the night was to show people what we were able to do during our tag sale and our collecting of donations from the dorms. We also had a goal of showing people how much is wasted and thrown away, when with a little effort, could be reused and given to someone who needs It. 

As the night went on, many people stopped by to check out our hard work. With a few members of our class focusing on their second Innovation Night project for another class, we were down to around four or five of us. After talking with many students who were interested in our project. Many of them told us that they did not donate to the tag sale. We asked Myles Saint Louis why he did not donate and he told us that, "I blame that on the dorm parents, not the dorm leaders. We never had a box to donate with." Being the first time that the Proctor community has done something like this, there are going to be some wrinkles that need to be ironed out. It was very good to hear what the community thought of how the project went, as more feedback equals more improvements for future tag sales and donations.   

END OF YEAR REFLECTION - 

1. What was your learning highlight from the spring term?

This spring term, one highlight that I remember is learning about calculating the wattage of the light bulbs in Shirley Hall. We calculated how many kilowatt hours the lights stayed on and converted that to an annual electricity bill. It was shocking to me how expensive it is to have the lights on all day every day. It also taught me how important turning the lights off when I'm not using them, as it really does save a lot of money. As well as the big benefits of efficient light features like LED lights. We also learned about renewable energy sources and many cities' and countries' plans for the future. I learned about Concord, NH and their 2030 plan to be powered by 100% renewable energy. This unit to me was the most interesting and is a big part of the future of Earth.               

2. What environmental science lessons do you think you will "take" with you? 

Environmental science lessons that I will take with me would definitely be the lessons I learned about how to reverse global warming. In our lifetime we are going to have to make some big changes and adaptations if we want to be able to live on this planet in the future. These lessons are something that I think everyone should know because it is our future. Along with these lessons I am going to take lessons of energy conservation with me. Knowing how to calculate how much energy you are using or how much a building uses, seems very important to me. Once you know how much money you can save and energy you can reduce by doing such small changes in your everyday life is crazy. These two lessons I will remember for the rest of my life.