Kicking off the list of Earth Month events at Highline was the Highline forest walk Thursday, April 16. Stephanie Ojeda Ponce was the organizer of this event, along with Woody Moses, two professors here at Highline. 

The event started with students from Ojeda Ponce’s class and other Highline community members gathering around the entrance to the library, and then Ojeda Ponce led everyone down the trail to the forest. They walked the trail for about an hour, taking time to stop and appreciate the view, take notes, and embrace the world around them. 

When talking with Ojeda Ponce afterwards, she said, “I do this with my classes every quarter, and one of the chairs of the climate justice task force, Woody Moses, asked me to organize it as an event for others to attend.” 

After Ojeda Ponce went to a birdwatching event on campus two years ago, Moses approached her and offered up the idea to apply for the Climate Justice Curriculum grant to develop a curriculum to incorporate the Highline forest. She was accepted, and started taking her classes down regularly. She knew that with her past experiences, she was going to use this space for place-based writing for her classes. 

When Ojeda Ponce was asked about how she felt about going down there the first time, she said, “At first I was uncertain about going down, I was worried students wouldn’t like it. Student experience is something that I take into account, and it felt like an experiment.” She also mentioned how she did this with her online classes too, and how they also seemed to enjoy the assignment, even without being on campus regularly. 

She’s also noticed that with the assignment she has relating to the walk, there’s less AI use on it. With students being able to be outside and have this kind of experience, there’s a larger connection to nature and the world, and she’s noticed a lot more genuinity. 

After talking with Micah Colindres, a Highline student who went on the forest walk, they said, “My favorite part of the walk was definitely the time of day, I also liked how free-roaming the trail is compared to other trails.” He also said, “I was more focused on not having a specific goal, it was more like I was okay with finding whatever to write about.”

Having only been on the trail once before, Colindres was worried about seeing the same things that he did last time, since it was only a few months ago. However, they mentioned, “This time I paid careful attention to see new things and actual details, see the different patterns and ridges on the plants, seeing that afterwards there’s more to this than I saw last time.”

Be sure to check out the Highline forest on your own or with a group of friends to wind down or celebrate the end of Earth Month!