Celebrating Urban Birds.
Following up on a bird-themed afternoon with kids at the Blackstone Community Center summer camp, Amparo “Chary” Ortiz spent October 18 and 19 at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Workshop for Community Advocates and Grassroots Leaders.
Ortiz is the financial administrator for the biostatistics department and a member of the board of directors for the Blackstone Community Center.
The workshop and the summer event were both part of Celebrate Urban Birds, a Cornell Lab of Ornithology program using bird watching as a jumping-off point to introduce kids in low-income communities to science and conservation.
“It’s about more than birds,” Ortiz says. “It’s important for our children to be aware of their surroundings, that they are mindful of the environment they live in.”
The event at Blackstone was supported by a mini-grant from Celebrate Urban Birds, and run by Ortiz and Professor of Biostatistics Anita DeStefano on July 21.
A group of 35 children, ranging in age from 5 to 9 years old, participated in the Blackstone Community Center summer camp, with Ortiz, DeStefano, and volunteers including MPH student Jackson Mesick.
The kids learned to identify six common bird species in Boston, making bird-themed cards for seniors at nearby Franklin Square House, planting sunflower seeds, and observing birds in the neighborhood. Their observations of birds in Boston was added to existing Celebrate Urban Birds data.
“This event provided a very hands-on and engaging STEM activity,” DeStefano says. “Hopefully we can build on this single event and eventually lead some of these children to continue in the path as scientist, statistician, or naturalist.”
At the October workshop at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ortiz was supported by a full scholarship to gain training in teaching citizen science, engaging communities in conservation through the arts, bird watching, and greening programs.
“This workshop has given me the tools to help people understand the importance” of a program like this, she says. The Cornell Lab offers curricula and teaching materials for Celebrate Urban Birds programs, along with skills Ortiz hopes will help not only continue the program at Blackstone, but merge community efforts like this with sustainability initiatives at Boston University and other institutions in the city.