We are coming to the end of this semester and will spend the next classes curating data for future usage in CODE320. Use this reflection to comment on your overall experiences in your on-site work over the semester. What did you learn about working with other people? What did you learn about yourself? Tell stories, be specific. I’m looking for a full page of response for this (at least 250 words).

This last semester has taken the classes into a big shift. The last two semesters of research team that has led to where we are right now, I am very fortunate for how far we have come. The members of my team could not be better, all of our assignments have been completed to the highest degree I have ever seen. The teamwork has allowed us to present to the MOBOT partners with solid ideas that allow us to scholarly build off of each other to formulate a QR code tour that will be coming together next semester.

                  As of where we stand right now, our current plan is to make an Indigenous centered QR code tour using the plants that are in the Native Plant tour already present in the “MyGuide to the Garden” website that MOBOT has. We will use the scientific information provided on the plants and add Indigenous names in addition to Indigenous uses, broken down by tribe if there is a difference present.

                  So far throughout the semester we first met with Jennifer, who works with the interpretation team. When we met with Jennifer our group was introduced to the aspect of “MyGuide to the Garden”. When introduced to this it gave that spark that showed us what platform we wanted to amp up. This finding of the “MyGuide” led to our first of two meetings with Ashley, who works with the herbarium and has spent half of her career diving into the world of Indigenous plants. Our first meeting, we collaborated with the colonial extractive team and went on a short tour through the Garden to formulate possible reasons of what story we want to tell. The next week, we met with Ashley again to go over the specifics of what we had come up with since the last time. Our most recent trip was spent spending time with Sean, going over what we have and getting our final ah ha moment. Sean showed us the current tour on their QR code app which is about Native plants. He gave the bright idea to use those plants that already have information about them and add to them to get to a new perspective with the Indigenous peoples at the forefront. Being able to come into contact with all of these staff from the Garden has opened my eyes to the thought of connecting.

                  Connections are one of the utter most important things to learn how to do when being brought up through college. Social networking allows for connections to not only be made between people, but also through companies. This skill can very quickly become global, for example, Robbie has been working in Madagascar. The traveling and studying from that has come from social networking between Robbie and his people, and those who are studying in Madagascar that are native to the area. Moving forward, I believe with the teamwork and collaboration, this project will become revolutionary.