An opportunity to help make a difference in the community has been brought to campus as Texas Master Naturalist Terry McKee will be hosting the second Rolling Plains chapter meeting on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in Bolin Hall in room 209. It’s free and open to the public as educational subjects related to nature and science will be discussed in these meetings. Also, the Rolling Plains group is looking for any potential volunteers that could help out in future projects or events. A public speaker will be making an appearance as well.
McKee said, “Generally, we have a regular business meeting as well as a program that can involve anything related to nature or science. In fact, we will be having a guest speaker Edwin Quintero, the Park Superintendent from Copper Breaks State Park, to give a rundown of what’s going on at the park and what can be done. It should be interesting of what they have going on over there.”
McKee encourages all students interested in nature, science and parks to come by.
“You will be with a bunch of ‘nerds.’ We call ourselves nature nerds since we get carried away with birds, flowers and anything that’s related to nature. We get involved with the community by teaching children about nature and how to protect its natural resources,” McKee said. “We’re just the perfect fit with MSU which is why we started holding our master naturalist classes out here as it just presents itself as a perfect opportunity to get the students interested in what we do and to get them involved in nature.”
Some students felt that these meetings could present good opportunities to help preserve the environment as well as getting people involved in their community.
Matt Graham, mechanical engineering sophomore, said, “That’s really cool that they’re holding these meetings since preserving the environment is really important.”
Eliza Cameron, English sophomore, echoed Graham’s comments.
“It’s great since it gives students the opportunity to take part in the community that they live in. It could get more people to be interested in doing environmental stuff not just here but in their own communities back home,” Cameron said.
Shea James, art freshman, pointed out that these meetings can bring the community together.
“It’s important to have these meetings because it gets the community together and you’re also learning many things that could be really interesting,” James said.
Brian Lang, biology freshman, added that it could be interesting to the science majors.
“Its cool for the science and biology majors that are interested in the environment since they will be around people who preserve the environment as their job at your school,” Lang said.
Overall, McKee pointed out that it can be a good learning experience.
“If you’re with a group of people that think like you do, you learn so much more just by assimilation so I would encourage the students to come out because we are always learning something new,” McKee said.
