Class: Sociology

Overview: The Austin Public Library downtown provides many free resources for residents to explore. This ranges from books to internet access, to public places to study, and many more attributes. This city-funded establishment exemplifies the efforts of Austin to provide an outlet for free education ranging from people of all ages. This open access as a result aids in providing all an equal opportunity to education, supporting the cause for affordable and accessible education for all.

Class: Ethnic Studies: Mexican American Studies

Overview: We travel through the Tejano Trails and make stops at Zavala Elementary School, Pan American Recreation Center and Hillside, Metz Elementary school, and Austin Oaks Subdivision/Robert Weaver Ave. At each location, we will address historical significance to the Mexican American community. Topics span history including the Texas Declaration of Independence, creation of public schools and community resources in the 1930-40s, and public housing initiatives of the 1960s. Allow the information in this tour to start a conversation on the segregation of the past, efforts to desegregate, and how these have impacted gentrification of cultural communities today.

Class: Environmental Science

Overview: Dove Springs is a park close to my home that my family & I would frequently visit. It's a nice park with a lot of open space for both people & dogs to freely roam around in, including a secret trail inside the woods as an alternate route to take. Throughout the years I've noticed that there was always large amounts of trash thrown around the park everytime I visited, sometimes the city or whoever would pick up the trash, but most times the trash would be left in the same spot for weeks on end. As of recent years, however, Dove Springs District Park had substantial work done to it with a big new park, a new bridge, & an overall cleaner environment. With that said, I feel that my tour of Dove Springs couldn't really emphasize the issue of pollution in the park like I wanted to (which is probably for the best really).

Class: Criminal Justice

Overview: Sam Bass was an infamous gang member of the Black Hills Bandits back in 1877. I can see the main street of downtown round rock and old settlers park intertwine with the historical gang violence and activity caused by the Sam Bass gang in the late 1800s. The people of Round Rock perform a reenactment of the Sam Bass shootout in the late 1800s at Old Settlers Park every independence day for remembrance of the horrific bloodshed. Main Street of downtown Round Rock is the location of the shootout and the address of where this shootout took place still remains. 

Class: Environmental Systems

Overview: Waterloo Greenway is a park system along Waller Creek that first opened to the public in 2021. With its goal being to bring the community closer to nature, the park offers the public multiple destinations and events to attend all year round. Not only that but, through multiple efforts, Waterloo Greenway is helping transform and restore Waller Creek from a history of flooding that displaced many and caused harm to the environment. Through this tour, students will not only be able to get a closer look at Waterloo Greenway but also learn about the history of Waller Creek’s flooding and take a look at the Waller Creek Tunnel Inlet Facility. 

Overview: This is a art Museum it is a great museum and has many diverse pieces of art. The interesting thing about the museumis that the museum takes active efforts to be more inclusive to everyone. There are elevators, doors with handicap accessability, and even quite areas with no art in them in order to have a calmer enviornment for those who need it. This to me makes the museum feel really special as it feels like anyone can enjoy the museum to its fullest.

Class: Texas History

Overview: Lyndon B. Johnson helped create many opportunities for underprivileged individuals and was a major driver for social reform. The LBJ Library has many examples and artifacts that showcase LBJ’s work for the underprivileged and his goals of social reform. The LBJ Library was founded with the hope that it would be a place to “serve as a springboard to the future” and to “increase public awareness of the American experience through relevant exhibitions and educational programs; and to advance the LBJ Library’s standing as a center for intellectual activity and community leadership while meeting the challenges of a changing world”. To accomplish this the LBJ Library and its parent organization, the LBJ foundation, host special activities, events and exhibits. Examples of this are forums, discussions, and podcasts as well as permanent and temporary exhibits to foster discussion on social reform.

Class: Gentrification in Everyday Life

Overview: South Congress also know as SoCo is a vibrant part of Austin which is known for its mix of shops and restraunts and over all a pretty desirable area. However, like many of its desirable areas, soco has expirenced rising costs for small buisnesses. With this challange shops are forced to either sell their propery, rebrand or just adjust as time moves forward.   

Overview: This was my very first project using Lapentor to create a virtual tour. Creating this tour became an opportunity for me to explore new software. As I was creating my virtual tour, I really wanted to gather material that shed light on the ongoing issue of gentrification in Austin while highlighting the devastating effect it is now having in Austin’s LGBTQ+ community. I gathered articles that reflected the fluctuating political opinion on whether 4th street and all its gay bars should be considered a historical site. However, my intention was not to solely highlight the polarizing political opinion on the site’s historical status. My intention was to also bring attention to the gay community’s struggles throughout history, and the paramount importance of preserving our history against all those who wish to tear it down and erase it.  

Class: Environmental Science

Overview: Dive in and explore the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, located in Austin, TX. Established in 1982 by Lady Bird Johnson and Helen Hayes in order to help protect the wildlife environment native to Central Texas. The VR tour will focus on exploring the ecological environment of Central Texas, and the ecosystems in places which include native plants, trees, pollinators, and more. The Center demonstrates the significance of conserving and maintaining a healthy environment. On this tour, we will learn how the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center promotes sustainability by its collection of water cisterns. As we travel through the center, we will learn about the ecosystem and its contributing environmental factors. Come and experience the beautiful ecological environment of Central Texas at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center!

Class: Environmental Science

Overview: The South Congress Bat Habitat and the environmental change intertwine because of how the bats have been a big part of the area's ecosystem and the natural charm of the city besides Zilker. But sadly due to the change in weather, increase in construction and the increase of population in the area over the years. We have started to see a change in the bat habitat because of the environmental changes in the area. This has caused a decrease in insects for the bats to hunt as well as the rise in temperatures in Austin also caused the bats to have a harder time sustaining their habitat. This has caused the bats to no longer be able to come out as often as they used to in the past and also have them come out later than they have as well.

Class: Texas History

Overview: The broken spoke represents the culture of Austin Texas by being the honky-tonk gathering place for over 50 years. In 2022 it was threatened with potential demolition or rezoning by the city. It took the effort of many city residents to keep the broken spoke as it was. By 2023 it became recognized as a Texas historical landmark. This event represents the broader trend of Austin battling with its culture being taken away turning into a corporatized version of itself. 

Class: Social Studies

Overview: The Festival Food Beach forest is the first publicly owned food forest in Austin, open to the entire public. With the rising rate of food insecurity being 14.4% in Travis County, this food forest aims to help those in the Austin community providing resources and provisions to assist those in need. The RBJ center that consists of low income seniors was the reason that the food forest was created to assist those dealing with food insecuirty. The Festival Food Beach Forest provides a resource to the Austin community to fight the war against food insecurity. 

Class: Civic Discourse

Overview: Texas School for the Deaf was founded by the Sixth Legislature in 1856. It started with Matthew Clark, a deaf man, who petitioned the state of Texas to open its first school for the hard of hearing. The school was originally named Texas Deaf and Dumb Asylum and was changed in 1949 to Texas School for the Deaf. The lot was originally purchased for $10,000 and has undergone significant changes to improve the learning environment. The campus included the inclusion for the blind and orphans of color in 1887 and desegregated the students in 1965. Texas School for the Deaf is the oldest public school in Texas and continues to employ and improve lives for people who are hard of hearing or have other disabilities. 

Class: Environmental Systems

Overview: The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was founded in 1982 by Lady Bird Johnson and American actress Helen Hayes to help protect the ecological environment of Central Texas. It conserves a wide variety of the native plants of the North American continent and provides many insects and small animals with a home. The center has also made efforts for water conservation and uses rainwater cisterns to help maintain the plants. Environmental conservation is important because plants provide animals with sustenance and homes and help regulate ecological systems in the area, which the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center does well in promoting with their gardens and research.

Class: Environmental Science

Overview: The Zilker Park is a monumental and historic park in Austin, Texas, bringing together people from all over the world for events and even just a walk in nature. The Vision Plan proposed by the city of Austin, which is aimed at improving the experience of visiting Zilker, is detrimental to the idea of Zilker and infrastructure already in place. The proposed changes are highlighted in the VR Tour, showing how the plans are to implement parking garages, bridges, and an amphitheater over green grass.

Class: Social Sciences

Overview: Originally a quiet residential neighbourhood, Rainey Street has undergone many urban developments. From quaint homes to upscale bars and food trucks, to what we see now: skyrise apartments. Since the creation of the I-35, Rainey Street was “split” from the rest of East Austin. It was safe from construction for a little while until developers saw the opportunity to buy out land and build in an area so close to the centre of downtown, leading to an influx of gentrification and pushing out the families that once lived there.

Class: Texas History

Overview: This virtual reality experience is made for the use of Texas History classes to show the architecture of an original Texas building which marks the beginning of modern-day Austin. This virtual reality experience shows the rooms in which ex-U.S.-President Lyndon B. Johnson and ex-Firstlady Lady Bird, met, before becoming a couple and running for president. This tour also includes the room that president Lyndon B. Johnson would live in during his time in Austin, during presidential races, and whenever staying in Austin for political business. 

Class: Environmental Science

Overview: Barton Springs is home to natural wildlife and seen as a natural swimming hole for anyone to enjoy. Although it has been around for quite some time, efforts have been made to try and stop the water from being polluted since it serves as drinking water as well to Austin and surrounding areas. As Austin continues to grow, so does pollution. When people move close to Barton, it’s important for residents to be mindful of what they are putting in their grass and around there house. Runoffs are huge and city life, pesticides, and other harmful chemicals make our beautiful water turn cloudy and not drinkable anymore. 

Class: Environmental Systems

Overview: I initially thought about the public library and access to knowledge because almost everything is free and available to anyone. Some of the key artifacts such as a library card or the short story dispenser these things allow it to be a place of comfort and equality.  With shots that slowly build up a story of why the public library has such a meaningful place in peoples hearts.