World as Classroom: Studying Nature Up Close

By Matthew Salerno

For my CEC for this class, I completed two events outside of class. For my first fulfillment for my CEC, I did hours upon hours of hiking at the Ramapo Reservation. Hiking at the reservation is a special experience for me and I have learned a lot about nature through my travels. I’ve visited a lot of small trails and climbed a lot of places off trail while also discovering some trails that need to be restored.

I plan on hopefully talking to MEVO and perhaps getting a trail restored that I stumbled upon a few weeks ago. Through hiking so much, I do feel like I now have a higher appreciation for nature and its beauty. When I go hiking and see some trash on the trails I will pick it up and put it in the closest receptacle or keep it until the end of my hike and throw it out in a trash container at the parking lot.

For my second fulfillment for my CEC, I went to an event in Paterson for my senior seminar class. The event was on Earth Day and it involved educating young people about the environment and was located at the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park.

There was a school of Earth and Space Science that was there educating younger kids about what’s good and what’s not good for the environment. In addition, Park Rangers led students or volunteers that attended around the park with trash bags picking up any litter possible. The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission was also in attendance testing out their new hovercrafts that pick up tough to get trash in the Passaic River and at the base of the falls. I definitely learned a lot about the history of the park and how much effort some people go through to keep it a clean and healthy environment.