Vernal Pool Reserve Team for Fall 2014

Stephani Gimble, Project Manager

I originally joined the Vernal Pools Reserve team last spring since I was interested in learning more about the species and habitats found on the reserve.  I wanted to continue with this team as Team Leader, since I had fallen in love with the natural reserve.  I find every detail about this ecosystem quite fascinating and it is my goal to share that passion with my peers in the UC Merced community.  This team gives me a passion for what I do as an environmental engineer.  After graduating from UC Merced I hope to use my degree to work in water quality and conservation.

Scott Walker, Assitant Project Manager

Joining the Vernal Pool Reserve team wasn’t really something I planned, I sort of just fell into it.I had never heard of the team before joining it but now that I have, I’m happy things turned out this way. Becoming part of this team has allowed me the opportunity to step up as a leader among others as well as make a real difference on this campus by raising awareness about the reserve.

Bryan Juarez, Inventory and Procurement Officer

I chose this team because it presented me an opportunity to apply my knowledge of the reserve. I spent three years at UC Merced and only visited the reserve once as part of a class in order to study the soil. It was not until I participated in the Student Naturalist Program last year that I truly gained an appreciation for the vernal pool ecosystem. Now that the reserve has officially joined the UC Natural Reserve System,hopefully new students will not have to wait as long as I did to experience the reserveand what it has to offer.My time as a student is essentially over, so I expect this to serve as a mock trial forwhat working with team in the real world will be like. I also hope to gain some experience and insight into the process of developing and implementing ideas in a real-world setting.

Bao Xiong, Webmaster

I choose to join the Vernal Pool Reserve Team because I want to continue learning about our environment.  As a Yosemite Leadership Program (YLP) Intern this summer, I have learned the important roles nature plays in our lives. With this idea, I want to study the important roles vernal pools has toward living organisms and its surroundings.  As a Webmaster, I will learn new skills such as designing and managing the website as well as meeting deadlines and creating deadlines for the team. As part of the outreach team, I will be given the chance to meet with community partners and get a hands-on experience with meeting the needs of the community. This team will also teaches me professional skills that I will need throughout my academic education.

Logan Graves, Student Advisory Committee Representative

I wanted to be a part of this team so that I can help raise the awareness of the vernal pools to the students on campus. Not a lot of people understand the function and purpose of the vernal pools and I want to help enlighten students and visitors. From this project I hope to learn how to work well in a team setting. I have never been part of a group with this type of dynamic with different people working in different areas coming together for a common goal. This team will prepare me for law school and my long term career goals, as I will have to work in teams under deadlines in a similar fashion.

Jessica Rivas, Sub-Team Leader: Communications Officer & Outreach

I want to be a part of the Vernal Pool Reserve Team because the Vernal pools serve as an excellent learning tool and can really bring the campus and community together. I hope to learn more about the ways to keep the Vernal Pools protected and take part in both protecting it and sharing it with the community. The amount of teamwork involved in a project like this is absolutely vital in ensuring our success in creating interactive information on the site, and I feel like because of that I'll learn how to be a better team player. After UC Merced I plan to eventually study the ways wilderness affects the brain and cognition.

Mai Yee Vang, Sub-Team Leader: Design & Planning

At first I thought I would want to be a part of the VPR Team just so I can learn more for my own knowledge because I wasn’t sure what the class actually does but after joining the team I found out a lot more reasons as to why I want to become a part of this team. Now, I want to be a part of this team because I know I can contribute something to the school since I am in the Design team. I hope to gain leadership, presentation, time management skills from this team.

Robert Aguilar, Sub-Team Leader: Concepts & Exhibits

I joined the vernal pools because I wanted to learn more about them and why they are important to us. I hope to learn more about the Vernal Pools and be a part of spreading awareness of the vernal pools. I think this experience will help me as a student since much of our work in teams and having to work together to achieve a common goal, which in turn relates to managing my time and working with those around me. After UC Merced I plan to work with prosthetics and orthotics for children and then to eventually get my teaching credentials so I can retire into teacher.

Nathan Garcia, Team Member

I chose to be on the Vernal Pool Reserve Team to continue the work of last semesters team,specifically within the Outreach team to get the word out about the reserve and and give it attention. Learning about the life in the Vernal Pools is fascinating to me and being able to experience it firsthand made my decision easier to join this team. I will gain skills such managing website content and making communication with other organizations to include the Vernal Pool Reserve apart of events where we can gain more publicity. Being a part of this team will give me more experience in dealing with website management and how to successfully promote an area of interest. After graduating from UC Merced i attend to play for grad school in Fall 2015.

Brandon Tran, Team Member

I was part of the team last semester when it just jump started. I was at first the subteam leader of the Concepts & Exhibits branch where I helped my team design brochures, presentations,and a mock model of a cross-section of a vernal pool.  I was later promoted to become a species specialist where I help oversee all the subteam branches and provide my knowledge of the vernal pool reserve I gained from Chris Swarth to the team.  Now I rejoined the team because I want to continue helping the reserve and Chris Swarth in any way I can, and now that I work for Chris Swarth, himself, I can provide more help for my new team this semester.  I plan on going to grad school to study zoology after UC Merced.

Myvi Nguyen, Team Member

I chose the Vernal Pool team because I wanted to gain more experiences with working in teams as well as being in nature. After taking several ESS courses at UC Merced, I am intrigued in getting involved in projects and hands-on experiences with emphasis on the environment.  Thus, I feel that this is a great opportunity to learn more about the Vernal Pool Reserve especially since it is so close to us. By being  part of this team, I hope to gain my leadership, cooperation, and communication skills in order to prepare me for my future.

Atis Srihiran, Team Member

I joined this team not only because I have always been fascinated by nature but also I would love to contribute our community with my best interest. As a member of Concepts & Exhibits subteam, our main goal is to raise an awareness of the Vernal Pools. Throughout this semester, our sub-team plans to display the Vernal Pools exhibit with our creative ideas in the library. This experience will help me gain various skills such as communication, teamwork, and creativity to prepare for my future career. My plan after UC Merced is to attend a graduate school with Environmental Engineering major.

William (Billy) Mayse, Team Member

As an ESS major naturally this project appealed to me the most. I wanted to be a part of the Vernal Pools Reserve team because I love working outdoors, and I believe this project provides the best opportunity to do so. In the five years I've spent here at UC Merced I've actually heard very little about the reserve. Through participating on the VPR team I hope to learn more about the vernal pools around our campus and also raise awareness about the reserve. I'm not entirely sure what I will do after I graduate from UC Merced. Most likely I'll either apply for grad school, or work for the Park Service possibly in Yosemite.

Maria Medina, Team Member

I joined the team because I wanted to learn more about Vernal Pools and their importance to our environment. I was also extremely curious to learn what species live there and the most important question: why do we care about the conservation of the vernal pools and their unique species. I hope to gain knowledge and communication skills to spread awareness throughout the community on the importance of the Reserve. This experience will not only help me grow as a student,but also as a person. It will teach me the proper skills to work as a team to further improve awareness on the Vernal Pool Reserve. After graduating UC Merced, I plan to conduct research on airborne diseases that we know so little about.

Mark Reynolds, Team Member

I chose to be a part of the Vernal Pool Reserve (VPR) team because the VPR team has a special attraction to it with its recent acceptance in the UC Natural Reserve System. I enjoy teaching those who want to learn about information that has the potential to make an impact, especially regarding innovation and conservancy in the life or environmental sciences, respectively.  I couldn’t be more delighted to be a part of such a goal-oriented team. I am a returning member of the Spring 2014 pilot team and I can honestly say that being enrolled in Engineering Service Learning has provided me with invaluable communication and leadership experience. By joining the team another semester, I hope to gain additional skills, that will aid my transition to graduate studies, regarding design, organization/planning, and joint-reflection on the direction of a project. After graduating from UC Merced, I plan to enroll in a Doctoral program in the fields of Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry in Fall 2015.