As my freshman year at Wittenberg University starts to come to a close I find myself looking back at all the amazing things I got to do this year. Starting off the year I got an email from the head of the Environmental Science department asking if I had a work study job yet and if I didn't, would I be interested in working with him. I didn't have a job yet so I told him yes, I believe my consideration for this work opportunity was due to the experience I had gained over the last year through my mentorship. Also the fact that I was able to show my strengths in the field through the video I made, which summed up my overall experience. Working with the chair of the department, Dr. Ritter, has really been a great experience, I'm getting hands on work that a freshman may not usually get. I have helped him with many different things from testing water quality to organizing boots in the storage room.
One of the first things I got to help him with was using sondes (which are devices that measure different water quality values, so things like pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, specific conductivity) these sondes were put in different places around Clark County, so in Buck Creek, nearby wetlands, a park, and the data was recorded. We would go out to the different locations and grab out the sondes and take them back with us to the office and plug the sonde into the computer. Next I would pour different chemical solutions into the sonde and that would calibrate it so we could get the data off of it. This was done for each sonde data reading we needed.
I also have helped with looking at level logger readings, level loggers measure amount of rainfall and water level rises. We have several of these located around the Clark County area and also two on campus that measure rainfall in gardens. I would take these, plug them into the computer and then take the data and calibrate it.
Also during my time with working with Dr. Ritter I would clean up lab areas and the storage rooms.
This first year in college has truly been a great experience, both in and out of the classroom, and even though it got tough sometimes, I wouldn't change a thing about it.
One of the first things I got to help him with was using sondes (which are devices that measure different water quality values, so things like pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, specific conductivity) these sondes were put in different places around Clark County, so in Buck Creek, nearby wetlands, a park, and the data was recorded. We would go out to the different locations and grab out the sondes and take them back with us to the office and plug the sonde into the computer. Next I would pour different chemical solutions into the sonde and that would calibrate it so we could get the data off of it. This was done for each sonde data reading we needed.
I also have helped with looking at level logger readings, level loggers measure amount of rainfall and water level rises. We have several of these located around the Clark County area and also two on campus that measure rainfall in gardens. I would take these, plug them into the computer and then take the data and calibrate it.
Also during my time with working with Dr. Ritter I would clean up lab areas and the storage rooms.
This first year in college has truly been a great experience, both in and out of the classroom, and even though it got tough sometimes, I wouldn't change a thing about it.