Jade Gardephe
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/course work
Special Topics: Belize Rainforest/Reefs/Ruins
For my cultural immersion, I chose to study abroad in Belize. To prepare for this wonderful opportunity, my classmates and I studied the history, culture, and various environmental aspects of Belize for one semester. Studying abroad in Belize was definitely one of the best experiences throughout my college career. Here are some photographs that I took while on this fantastic trip.
This wildlife action shot is from the Belize Zoo, where we saw a variety of wild animals. The Belize Zoo was originally founded by Sharon Matola to protect native animals in Belize.
Mayan Ruins
A photograph of my lovely home stay family. We were preparing for dinner and making tortillas from scratch.
My home stay family's mother worked for the Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation, directed by Dr. Rosita Arvigo. They had a store full of the rainforest remedies tinctures and medicines. I found it fascinating that my home stay mother worked right alongside Rosita.
Walking through the rainforest and learning about rainforest ecology and various edible and medicinal plants.
Polo, a local traditional healer, demonstrates how to make a home-made sling out of palm trees in the area.
Polo and I enjoying some quality time.
Beautiful sunset in Caye Caulker.
Throughout my years at college, I have developed an interest in environmental research, especially pertaining to wildlife. For this class, I wrote a research proposal pertaining to bobcat microhabitat suitability.
Environmental Research Methods
Environmental Research
While taking Environmental Research Methods, I simultaneously developed my own environmental research with Professors Jason Hamilton and Jake Brenner. I was extremely interested in hands-on research involving monitoring wildlife activity and wildlife tracking. I also worked alongside my classmates Michelle Jones and Stephen Norton. Together, we have started a wildlife tracking project on Ithaca College Natural Lands using non-invasive techniques such as wildlife cameras and tracking plates. Below are some pictures, documents, and presentations to give you a better understanding of our year-long research project.
This is a great picture of one of our tracking plates. As you can see, the graphite solution on the plate has taken a negative impression of animal tracks. On this particular plate we caught raccoon and squirrel prints.
A picture of the bobcat we caught on the wildlife cameras.
Here is a link to our Flickr account to see all of the wildlife
Special Topics: The Natural World Through Human Eyes
This class was one of the most interesting classes I've taken at Ithaca College with Professor Michael Smith. This class explored the human perspective of nature through various disciplines such as art, philosophy, religion, and literature. The painting to the right was my final piece for this class. It explores the human perspective of wilderness throughout time.
"Wilderness Through Time"
Here is the annotated bibliography I based my artwork from.