INTERPRETING NATURE—Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program Research Projects, 2021-2022 school year

On May 29th, 2022 the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program wrapped up its 14th school year. The program was a balancing act of online and in-person activities at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. Despite the pandemic, Greenhouse students proved themselves to be both committed and adaptable. We fortunate to be able to collaborate with Cal Poly Pomona’s Questad Lab and Jen Toy of the USC Landscape Architecture program this year. The annual Cactus Commencement Ceremony - the culminating event where students present their work to an audience – was reinstated as an in-person event this year. Students led friends, family, alumni, and program collaborators through a series of environmental education stations that showcased the knowledge and skills that students had gained over the year.

We commend all high school student writers who participated in the Green Feather Award and The Tomorrow Prize, an Omega Sci-Fi Awards short story writing competition. It is inspiring to see that many high school students worked hard on their stories through the pandemic and created wonderful pieces of literature. We are very honored to be a part of this journey, supporting the writers of the future and pushing the community to learn about their local environment predicament through writing, to show everyone that there is still hope.

During the May 22, 2022, Omega Sci-Fi Awards Ceremony in Pasadena, there were actors bringing the stories to life. There were many emotions coming from the audience from “awes” to laughter from the runner up and winning stories.

Nature Nexus Institute (NNI) is a proud collaborator, and we look forward to the yearly celebration of creativity and storytelling from Los Angeles youth.

We are excited to present our two Green Feather award winning stories- “Eden” by Jennifer Wu and “The Seagulls Save Culver City?” by Jonathan Kim.