Final Blog Post: A Temporary Goodbye
Wow, I can’t believe that we have already arrived at our final blog post for this course. I approach the end of this semester with uncertainty; I feel both relieved to finally be done with assignments for the time being, but also slightly saddened as this course has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences this semester. I look back on my previous blog posts and am just in awe of how much I have changed as a person and an interpreter within the course of just one semester. As I approach my fourth and final year of undergrad, I’ve been spending a lot of time introspecting. What do I really want to do with my degree? It has never been a consistent answer, as I went into first year thinking I’d be applying to veterinary college. A year later, I was dead set on doing herpetology research. The next year, I switched over to entomological research.
So here I am now, reflecting on everything I have learned from this course, and I am faced with yet another “career change”. I have come to realize that my lack of commitment to one pathway out of university is because I just have a general passion and love for all things nature. Whether it was veterinary medicine, herpetology, or entomology, the common factor was that I just love learning! And with that, I love helping others learn about the same things that have brought me so much joy.
This new-found motivation is what fuels my main belief about nature interpretation: accessibility for all. Now, this of course encompasses physical and economical accessibility, but one of my main focuses is what I would call “emotional accessibility”. I have often encountered this toxic sense of superiority when it comes to STEM, even in natural/environmental studies. Sometimes without even realizing, we often place our own stereotypes on who should or shouldn’t be a part of the scientific community, and on that note; if you are not a part of the scientific community then somehow your access to nature is restricted! I remember as a kid how daunting it was to ask questions to adults; some of the people i looked up to the most have scoffed as what they considered a “silly” question. For a time, this really put me off from studying biology, and I felt like I wasn’t “good enough” to join nature clubs at school because I didnt have any background knowledge (which, who would ever expect a 13 year old to be an expert on plant identification??). I had placed this extra pressure on myself because of the role models (clearly not very good nature interpreters) that chidded me as a kid.
These experiences, paired with everything I learned from this course about accessibility such as the importance of multiple intelligences (Beck et al., 2018) or the unpacking of our invisible backpacks (Gallavan, 2005), have taught me how vital it is to an interpreter to be accepting, forgiving, and encouraging. While this might be my motivation and my belief, it does bring about a huge amount of responsibility. As I witnessed myself first hand as a kid, and as highlighted in this unit chapter, we need to use our privilege of education and knowledge wisely as you never know who is looking up to you as a mentor. As an interpreter, you automatically are given responsibility for the future generation as they are the ones who listen the hardest and care the most (Beck et al., 2018). We need to be sure that our every action is in their favor and will help mold their connection with nature.
Thanks to this course, I am now able to both identify and express my motivations, beliefs, and responsibility; two skills that were definitely lacking beforehand. I have never been good at expressing myself in forms that were not visual; but through honing my writing and talking skills thanks to the blog and podcast assignment, I have realized that these skills were within me the whole time! I just never gave myself the chance to try it out. And that is exactly what I want to do after leaving this course. I want to give kids the chance to try out new skills and learn about nature in ways that they never thought they could. I now plan to further my studies by doing a Masters in Science Communication, so that I can continue to build these skills in both myself and the kids that I hope to inspire!
Thank you to everyone involved in this course, as the content of both the readings and your blog posts have been such an incredible source of inspiration! I have learned about things I never would have thought to look into and it has helped me widden my own personal point of view. I wish you all the best of luck in the rest of your nature interpreting journeys and hope to someday see how each of you have used these skills in your future careers.
Goodbye for now!
Marie
Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World (1st ed., pp. 127-158). SAGAMORE Publishing.
Gallavan, N. P. (2005). Helping teachers unpack their “invisible knapsacks”. Multicultural Education, 13(1), 36. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A137921591/AONE?u=guel77241&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=9fe2f151
Hi Marie!
I thought your post was very well done! You really did a great job wrapping up the course and relating it to your own struggles with school and how you came to the conclusion that nature interpretation should be accessible to all! I really liked this comment! I was also loved to read about your enthusiasm emotional accessibility, as well. This really resonated with me because I too find that not everyone is self-aware when they are putting their own personal biases into their interpretation. In addition, not everyone comes from the same background or was raised in the same situation, and I find a lot of the time when people are relaying their experiences and their opinions to others, they don’t consider this! I find that this course really helped with this as well! I am a biology/anthropology student, and I would say that when conducting qualitative research you really need to be aware and make it emotional accessible. I think that these courses have really helped me to understand this :) and I also think that it is super important. In addition, this ties into what we learned about the different learning styles, as well as multiple intelligences as you mentioned above (Beck et al., 2018). Learning styles are extremely important to understand when interpreting/presenting anything, in my opinion! I think it is a big takeaway from this course to understand that everyone learns differently, and there are limitations when we talk about accessibility. However, knowing the different styles we can try to minimize the limitations as much as possible. This may also help to increase the emotional availability of your platform/method (Tumblr, YouTube, vlogging, etc..).
I really loved hearing about your decision to pursue a master’s in science communication. This is definitely a pathway that is worth pursuing! I am currently deciding between master’s programs for next year, but I am leaning toward one at Guelph :)! I really hope that you continue to interpret nature - your blog is super entertaining to read and very well written! Thanks for your post and I wish you luck in whatever you decide!
Cora :)
References:
Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World (1st ed., pp. 127-158). SAGAMORE Publishing.
Hi Marie! Awesome final blog post! Great job on wrapping up the course and sharing all your final thoughts. It's funny how this class has led to another career change for you because it sort has done the same thing for me. Before, I wanted to go to Pharmacy school as I have a great passion for the pharmaceutical industry. But, after taking this class I realized I have another purpose in life and that is to help grow future sustainable cities and improve overall global health. Nature interpretation can be used in both of these scenarios, as we can begin to see future city builders incorporating the environment with our cities and increase access to outdoor spaces to improve our qualities of life.
This is something I have gained allot of interest in and it is a major challenge for us as we must find innovative ways to combat and adapt to climate change. It is so true for interpreters to be inviting, welcoming and promote inclusivity because it is every single person's responsibility to have a sustainable relationship with the environment and everyone should have a fulfilling purpose to have a proper connection with nature. Thanks again for sharing your insights and opinions. I hope nature interpretation follows you with whatever your future career endeavours may be. Take care and have a great day!























