Spring is always a crazy time of year. Last month, my wife and I caught whatever bug is going around and it threw a wrench into everything. There isn’t much fun or work to be accomplished when you’re bound to your bed, coughing and sputtering and getting absolutely no sleep.
Because this month will be a hectic one, I definitely hope that I’m not around anymore sick folks because I don’t need their germs to slow me down! I took one look at my calendar and said, “Wow!” April is bound to be just that busy, both professionally and personally.
This spring's SPJ Spring Conference will provide valuable training to help journalists adapt to changes within the industry
For starters, the month begins with the SPJ Region 4 & 5 Spring Conference in Erlanger, Kentucky. This year’s focus will be on “Adapting to Change,” a topic that every media professional frets over. Technology changes so quickly it is sometimes hard to gauge which new gadget will take and which we need to invest our time and attention in. There’s just no way to learn or use them all. So I’m looking forward to a little advice and direction over the two days of the conference. It’s always a great way to learn new trade secrets, but is also a fun time to catch up with other friends, colleagues and past classmates who are in the biz.
The following weekend, I’ll catch up with more classmates and friends from my college days at the Delta Chi Fraternity Region 6 Leadership Conference. There I’ll brush up on my leadership skills through a variety of workshops and catch up with new brothers and alumni, so that should be fun.
Students at Silverton Paideia Academy benefit from one-on-one intruction and mentoring from volunteer tutors.
Spring break is over for the kiddos in the community, so I’ll also be back at work at Silverton Paideia Academy tutoring fourth graders as I help them improve their language and reading skills. This is a fun job that I look forward to. The kids prove to be a bright spot in my day because they always help me see life from their enthusiastic, youthful perspective.
And then there is my own writing. When I’m not testing recipes for my cookbook, writing away on my novel, or creating Websites for clients, I’m blogging away over at Jathan & Heather. There you can read about everything from food and health, to family, entertainment and more. Check it out. Better yet, subscribe to our site and you’ll get updates delivered right to your inbox.
Whatever you may be doing this April, I hope you learn something useful that makes your life a little simpler, better organized, and helps you enjoy the warmer days ahead.
Members of LEAP enjoy their win for best student group award from the Hamilton County Environmental Services.
CINCINNATI — The Leaders for Environmental Awareness and Protection, a new student organization started at the University of Cincinnati in October 2005, received the best student group award from Hamilton County Environmental Services Saturday.
UC students and other environmentally conscious Cincinnatians flocked to the One Earth Party at Sawyer Point, which ran all day on Saturday.
The award, the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition environmental Award for Earth Day 2006 for Best Student Group, was given for LEAP’s contribution towards environmental conservation and protection.
Holly Christmann, the co-chair for the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition, presented the award.
Only five awards were given out in years past, but with the creation of LEAP, a sixth award was created for the best student group, according to Christmann.
LEAP received the award as a result of their meet-and-greets and their entry into Recycle Mania, a recycling competition between universities that began in 2001, Christmann said.
“This is the first year that UC has been involved in the program,” she said.
According to Autumn Garrison, the graduate advisor for LEAP, about 30 students from UC went to help at the event.
Earth Day began in 1970 as a day for Americans to recognize the need for a cleaner environment, according to the EPA.
Now, Earth Day is celebrated all over the globe.
LEAP vice president Marla Frank escorts Dustin Hoehn as a recycling dog to interact with children and guests at the One Earth Party.
“Cincinnati first celebrated Earth Day at Sawyer Point in 1990, but the event was then moved to Fountain Square for years,” said Pati Schultz, who is with the public affairs office at the EPA. ”In 1996, the EPA joined with the Earth Coalition and we came back to Sawyer Point and have been here for five years.”
One student who attended the event, Dustin Hoehn, wore a dog costume and interacted with children and other passers-by while being led by Marla Frank, the vice president of LEAP.
“LEAP also participates in Keep Cincinnati Beautiful and in Return the Warmth, a program which turns plastic bottles into fleece coats for children,” Frank said. “The organization is also working with Student Government to improve recycling efforts on campus next year.”
Garrison said the awards ceremony served as the prelude to “Earth Week,” a series of events scheduled to be held on UC’s McMicken Commons starting on Monday.
The activities are scheduled each day between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and are being sponsored by LEAP, Hamilton County and other non-profit organizations, Garrison said.
On Monday, students will be dumpster diving in white suits and respirators to draw attention to the issue of recycling, Garrison said.
Hamilton County will also provide information about recycling and a basketball hoop will be set up where people can shoot hoops with their recyclable.
Garrison said the Ohio Office of Energy will provide UC with specific information about energy on Tuesday, and the Dorm Energy Challenge will also be promoted.
A local band is scheduled to perform as well.
LEAP members work an information table at One Earth Day in Sawyer Point.
Wednesday’s focus will be on transportation and will feature information about alternative fuels and vehicles, Garrison said.
Two to three hybrid vehicles, a large Metro bus powered by Soy Bio Diesel and information about the new UC shuttle system will also be displayed, Garrison said.
Earth Week will come to a close on Thursday when the focus turns to organic foods.
Because we were born organic, Garrison said, the focus will be on how to distinguish between good and bad foods, and how to live a healthier life.
LEAP’s goal is to educate people at UC and to help out other environmentally conscious organizations where needed, as they did at the One Earth Party on Saturday, said Frank.
Originally published in the News Record on April 24, 2006.
CINCINNATI — A young college student looked quickly about before she tossed her garbage over her shoulder. The plastic water bottle rolled until it landed at the edge of a barren strip of land that stretches through the heart of Clifton.
Nearby, empty buildings stand as tired sentinels, bereft of attention, their paint peeling as opaque windows face the community like dead, soulless eyes.
Meanwhile, two other students, Derek Vogel, 19, a civil engineering major, and Anamika Modawal, 19, a business and biology major, shared a desk in a computer lab at the University of Cincinnati.
Together they performed database searches on the Internet, shared ideas on how to address the issue of cleaning up the uptown neighborhood, and planned for a meeting of the Leaders for Environmental Awareness and Protection (LEAP).
The two co-presidents were pleased with the current size of their organization. “We now have about 15 members who regularly participate, but over 150 members on our (e-mail) roster,” Modawal said.
LEAP originated in October 2005 when a small group of UC students recognized the need to promote environmental protection both on campus and in the community, said Vogel, who has been with the organization for two years.
Since its inception, LEAP has not desisted from its goal. It has partnered with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful and has continually supported the Return the Warmth program. “This is not part of the ‘pitch-in’ recycling initiative,” Vogel said. “It was solely put on by LEAP.”
Keep Cincinnati Beautiful provided LEAP with 25 cardboard containers that feature the Rumpke logo. These bins are placed in several buildings around campus and are used to gather No. 1 plastics which LEAP members collect and will give to Rumpke, a privately owned waste and recycling company, on May 31.
The best laid plans are not always able to be followed, however. In the beginning, Rumpke gave LEAP a large trash container in which the plastics could be stored and held for collection by the company. “This dumpster has been full of trash since its placement, so I have stored the bags in my basement for the time being,” Vogel said.
When Rumpke does collect the plastics at the end of the month, they will be recycled and turned into fleece coats for children and given back to the community, Vogel said.
LEAP Secretary Julia Ferguson, 21, a political science major, helps coordinate events between LEAP and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, where she works as an intern.
The two organizations distributed 75 recycling bins throughout the Clifton community on April 12, Ferguson said. They also registered people for recycling service, which is free for Cincinnati residents.
Members of the community were grateful when they received a recycling bin because many people had not known how to obtain one. “We had a couple of other people tell us that they had their bin stolen,” Ferguson said, laughing. “And then a couple of doors down someone actually said, ‘Oh, well I stole a bin.’ So it was a really good response.”
Members of LEAP come from a wide range of disciplines, including: neuroscience, political science, environmental science, business, and more. “It’s an interest that touches a lot of different areas and engages a lot of people,” Ferguson said.
In an effort to create interdisciplinary programming that has a greater impact on campus, LEAP partnered with two other environment-friendly student organizations, the Environmental Law Society and Students for Ecological Design.
LEAP invited students to attend a showing of “The Eleventh Hour,” a documentary produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio that details the possibility of human extinction and the importance of decreasing the carbon footprint.
Together, the three organizations have created programs like “Earth Education Week,” which was held earlier this April.
During that week, LEAP’s leaders focused on the importance of educating students about environmental sustainability. On April 17, LEAP invited students to attend a showing of “The Eleventh Hour,” a documentary produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio that details the possibility of human extinction and the importance of decreasing the carbon footprint.
Two representatives from Tree Media Group and the Eleventh Hour Action Campaign flew in from California and Washington, D.C. to host the event and make it more of an action oriented plan, said Modawal.
The co-presidents were pleased with the university’s response to the event. Upwards of 40 people attended the event, Vogel said.
Despite the message and global impact of “The Eleventh Hour,” however, Vogel said that LEAP’s real goal is to focus on local issues.
Ferguson hopes to beautify the razed blocks between McMillan and Calhoun streets in Clifton, but she discovered that making improvements in the community is not always easy. Sometimes bureaucratic roadblocks get in the way of change.
“Basically we’re trying to plant wildflowers,” Ferguson said. She approached Matt Bourgeois, director of the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., about planting native wildflowers on the vacant lots.
Ferguson’s requests for permission to plant the flowers on those particular lots have been denied. “The argument is that this big field will be developed soon so they don’t want to bother putting in the flowers,” Ferguson said.
On April 26, close to 100 volunteers from the Clifton neighborhood joined 12 LEAP members in participating in Great American Cleanup. During that event, LEAP was allowed to plant native wildflowers such as cosmos, sunflowers, and zinnias along the edge of the lot bordering the parking lot and Krishna’s on McMillan.
“Those flowers will likely bloom in the late summer,” Ferguson said. “This lot was deemed by both LEAP and Matt [Bourgeois] of the Clifton Heights Community Redevelopment Corporation as a better location for the planting of wildflowers because this site will likely be the last one along this strip that will see development and may be available for planting projects such as this until then.”
Despite the unforeseen snags it encounters, LEAP and its partners are happy with the progress they have made thus far. Modawal said her goals are to sustain momentum for the long-term with ongoing events and to make the recycling process more efficient so more people can get involved.
One plan LEAP is working on is a swap meet that would be held near campus. Students could bring two items which are still in good condition but which they do not want anymore, and then they could pick two things that they would like to have, Ferguson explained.
“So you want to redecorate your room but you don’t have the money, then come to our swap meet,” Ferguson said. The swap meet will likely be held during finals week so it coordinates with the time that students are moving.
“Keep Cincinnati Beautiful did one in Northside and that was really successful,” Ferguson said.
Modawal said that she hopes LEAP’s efforts simply encourage students to try and make a difference and that they do not get overwhelmed by the process. “Whether you just participate here and there or go to one of our events, it’s about taking that step to get there,” she said. “Just making that effort to take some action can add up.”
