Connecticut College wrap up

Another semester with the students of the Goodwin Niering Center for the Environment (GNCE) has come to an end. The students presented their final projects last Tuesday evening, and once again I am awed by their accomplishments. Keep an eye on our website for some new additions reflecting their efforts.

One group scanned several volumes of newspaper clippings of Avalonia’s history, and then once digitized, they were labeled and organized. These will eventually be put on line in an archive and will be available for all to enjoy and not just remain hidden, yellowing, in binders.

Another group expanded the Hike and Seek program to include the new Tri-Town Ridgeline Forest Preserve. There were two loops created, targets found and photo clues developed. These will need some final editing and formatting before they are added to the webpage, but we are working on it.

A third group created an online wildlife booklet with examples of typical creatures that could be spotted on Avalonia’s preserves, based on the types of habitats they are found in. They have included mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and birds with photos and fun facts. Once edited, this booklet will be linked to Hike and Seek as well as to our preserve pages.

The last group took over our Instagram account and tried to teach some of us older dogs, some new tricks. I am including in this post, their very helpful step-by-step instructions, so share your photos on Instagram while you are out and about on Avalonia’s Preserves. These will show up if you follow Avalonia as well as possibly being posted on our website, too.

Thank you to all the GNCE students and their professor Jen Pagach for a wonderfully helpful and creative semester.  

Sample page from Wildlife Booklet.

Creating an Instragram Account

Hello readers, we are Julia Whelan and Grace Neale from Connecticut College. As student members of the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment, we were tasked this semester with creating a project that would benefit Avalonia and improve their outreach efforts. We decided that the most effective way to reach more people was to revamp their Instagram account. As social media gains momentum, sites like Instagram are phenomenal ways to gain an audience for an organization. Instagram is a photo-sharing app for smartphones, so for a group like Avalonia that owns copious amounts of gorgeous nature photos it is an ideal platform. We have used the account to encourage participation as well as advertise events. Although we originally took over the Instagram account to reach a younger audience, we want everyone to enjoy this app. Below are instructions on how to operate your own account. Just be sure to click on the magnifying glass and type in @avalonialandconservancy to follow us and see our photos when we post them.


Setting up an account:
To set up an Instagram account, download the app and type in your email address or phone number and create a username (which will begin with @) and a password.

Make a post:
Once you have created an account on your mobile device, click the plus sign with a square around it on the lower center of your screen (seen below), which will bring you to the next screen.

Selecting photos:
Photos from your camera roll will be shown for you to select from. By clicking the button circled in red, you can select multiple photos to post.

Editing photos:
Once you have selected your photo(s), you can edit them on the next screen, either by adding filters (underlined below), or manually adjusting lighting, etc by clicking the edit button. When you are finished, click Next.

Captioning:
On this screen, you can add a caption, hashtags, tag people, and add the location where the photo was taken, before it is posted. Hashtags generally go at the end of the caption using the # symbol and are a way to broadcast your post to more viewers. Posts using the same hashtag are grouped together on Instagram so users can easily find more posts that are similar to one another.

So POST something!