Wild Basin is excited to have on board Joy Hernandez as Wild Basin’s new Administrative Coordinator. Joy has a B.A in Zoology and over 10 years administrative and technical experience in the Natural Sciences, including managing daily operations at the UT fire ant laboratory and acting as a liaison between the regulated public and TCEQ. She is also a certified Master Naturalist. Joy is a wonderful addition to our team and she offers a wealth of knowledge about Central Texas flora and fauna. Feel free to reach out to Joy by email at jherna74@stedwards.edu.

After 7 years of service to St. Edward’s University and Wild Basin, our beloved Kim Johnson is moving on to new adventures. Over the past 7 years, Kim has been a vital member of the Wild Basin team and the driving force behind a broad range of Wild Basin programs, including directing Wild Basin’s social media, managing volunteer trail guides and tours, organizing countless events at Wild Basin including full-moon yoga and concerts by local musicians, spearheading Wild Basin’s role in the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Hike & Lecture Series, and expertly mentoring many student interns.  Kim’s contributions to Wild Basin have made a deep and lasting impact on its programs.  We are so grateful for Kim’s expertise, hard work, and big heart — she will be greatly missed!  Kim’s last day will be Friday, August 11th. Please join us in a send-off celebration for Kim at Wild Basin on Thursday, Aug 10 from 5:30 – 8pm (potluck on the deck).

Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve was mentioned as one of four destinations for students “on an Aggie budget” in Texas A&M’s online magazine, The Battalion. The article can be found here:

http://www.thebatt.com/life-arts/four-summer-destinations-for-the-aggie-on-a-budget/article_954b305e-674f-11e7-99c5-5f727cbfa56b.html

The Wild Basin Creative Research Center is excited to announce the hiring of Marissa Faris as our new Environmental Education Coordinator! Marissa’s first day was July 14th and she is quickly getting up to speed on Wild Basin educational programming and activities, as well as SEU policies and systems. We will work to make opportunities for many of you to meet with Marissa – to discuss your ideas, experiences, questions, and dreams for the Wild Basin Environmental Education Program. Stay tuned for announcements regarding meeting opportunities and other events. In the meantime, please help us welcome Marissa Faris (mfaris@stedwards.edu) to the Wild Basin Creative Research Team!

Bio describing Marissa’s training and experience:

Marissa Faris joined the Wild Basin Creative Research Center team in July 2017 as the Environmental Education Coordinator. We are excited to welcome her and to benefit from her wealth of experience in environmental and outdoor education. Marissa has a Master’s of Agriculture in Horticulture from Texas A&M University and is a certified Texas educator with four years of full-time classroom teaching experience. At A&M, she served as the inaugural Program Coordinator for Experiential Education in the Department of Horticultural Sciences, where she was responsible for increasing participation in undergraduate research, internships, study abroad programs, and service learning. Her teaching experience includes working with students in kindergarten through middle school, college students, and mentoring new teachers. She also has experience training volunteers at the Chicago Botanical Garden, developing curriculum and creating an outdoor learning program for K-5 students, and producing interpretive garden literature for visitors of all ages.

Rennie Selkirk from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and PI the TICOSONDE Balloon Sounding Project will give a talk Friday, May 26 at 10 am in JBWS 362 (the physics lab room).

“The TICOSONDE Balloon Sounding Project: Profiling Water Vapor, Ozone and Sulfur Dioxide in Costa Rica Since 2005.”

All are welcome to attend.

SELKIRK-Ticosonde

Join us at Wild Basin this Saturday for 2 special presentations by local wildlife artist and Wild Basin’s first Artist in Residence, Andrea Wolf. Andrea will give presentations for both children and adults.

“Kids, Animals & Art” 2-3 pm. Special presentation for children. Learn about John Audubon and how to draw a Golden Cheeked Warbler.
Sign-up here

Adult program, 4-5:30pm. Andrea will be discussing wildlife art and its relationship to conservation efforts, using art as a form of communication followed by the opportunity to observe a painting demonstration.

You are invited to join Robert Li from Google headquarters in California for this Sunday’s Android Workshop. Please come if this is your first time or if you have attended previous weekends. You will be building the Binary Search Tree activity. The pre-work is a quick read here, reviewing the Binary Search Tree.

Be sure to start reviewing the process for the Code Sprint as well. You’ll be breaking into teams to develop a basic app/game!

The workshop will start at 1pm and will end at 6pm in JBWS 267.  Students do not have to stay the whole time and you are welcome to come in a bit late. Please bring your laptop and review the material above!

Have a good week,

Michael Lykaios Guerrero

Also, please email me at mikelg@stedwards.edu if you have any problems with the links.