The Importance of a Good Hat - A Reflection by Chinou

August 24, 2012 Posted by: Chinou, Matthew Jorgenson

              Nyob Zoo, my name is Chinou. I had been living in Minneapolis for 17 years. One of the past experiences was I spent most of my life time getting use to the environment. From my past experience, my family and I usually go out every summer and harvest cucumbers or we plant different kinds of flowers around the house. Taking weeds out is what my family does every single summer, such as dandy lion flowers, which usually spreads around our yard.

              With the help of my past experience, I had learned that using a hat while working out in the field helps me to prevent skin cancer and heat exhaustion. I used the hat I’m wearing as a tool to help me throughout the day by reducing the chance of me getting skin cancer and heat exhaustion. This relates to the Youth Conservation Corps jobs because we are mostly spend our time outside in the prairie pulling garlic mustard and buck thorn. The hat that I’m wearing will be a very helpful tool to help me survive the rest of the day of work. Another experience that I had is identifying invasive species. From my past job experience I had many experience on, which kind of spices is good for the environment and the one that does not do good for the environment. This relates to my job because we have to recognize the invasive around the Coldwater Spring, such as garlic mustard, buck thorn, sweet white clovers, and many of the dangerous species such as poison ivy.

          The background of the Youth Conservation Corps is that it is a program for students that started in the 1970. Which the National Park Service, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management employed young teens each summer to participant in the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC). What the Youth Conservation Corps does is to work as a team, play, learn, and grow in public land restoring. They repaired natural cultural and historical resources to be protected as a federally preserved place.