Senior Maia Wijnberg grew up in California and Hawaii, so it may come as no surprise that she has always been drawn to the outdoors. She was riding horses at the age of 4, always around dogs. 

“I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was a kid, but as I got older I realized that what I was really interested in was the entire ecological system and natural world, how they interact, and how history helps shape the interactions,” she said. 

Maia is one of 26 seniors completing their capstone projects for their Global & Environmental Studies Certificates (GESC), awarded at graduation. The GESC program, part of the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, recognizes coursework, co-curricular engagement, and experiential learning. A few of the capstones, including Maia’s, center on the great outdoors that exists all over the Loomis Chaffee campus. Cathy Zhang and Daphne Wong’s capstone is on using nature for art. Tristan Buttimer led an early morning walk around campus talking about and listening to all the birds that make their home on the Island as part of his capstone. 

Maia’s capstone centered on water conservation, something she says she first became aware of when she lived in California. She recently led students on a walk on campus, taking advantage of Loomis Chaffee’s being at the confluence of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers. She stopped along the way to talk about all aspects of water, from the agricultural history of the land to the famous floods that have occurred on campus to the rivers feeding into dams that supply drinking water. “How we treat our water down here,” she said pointing to the Farmington River, “is going to impact what we get from the tap.” 

Maia created informative graphics, using various sources for research, and some of those graphics recently were on tables in the dining hall. Did you know, for instance, that the average family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency? One part of the graphic was a reminder to turn off the tap instead of letting it run constantly when brushing teeth, doing dishes, and engaging in other tasks.  “Even if the action feels small,” noted the infographic, “it can have a huge impact.” 

Maia says the GESC program been a great experience, enabling her to explore a passion. 

“Part of why I chose Loomis Chaffee was the GESC since I have been interested in the environment as long as I can remember,” she said. “It has been nice to work with various faculty members. My capstone project has the environmental aspect, a lot of history to it, and design is involved, so it is cool to pull this together into one project that doesn’t fit neatly into one subject matter. Environmental science is interdisciplinary, so a program like the GESC that functions outside of class fits into that interdisciplinary aspect.” 

Cathy Zhang and Daphne Wong: Using Nature for Art

One reason to bring a visiting artist to campus is to educate students in some way. Another might be to inspire students. Last year visiting artist Brooke Toczylowski did both, using plant dye to create art. Cathy and Daphne’s capstone project was inspired by the artist’s work. 

“We are both very much into art and thought it was an interesting concept and decided to use plants from the greenhouse and other natural ingredients to create dye,” Daphne said. “We then hosted two painting sessions in Painting 1 and 2D Studies and asked [students] to draw their favorite memories in nature.”  

The finished pieces hang on a wall in the Richmond Art Center outside a classroom on the north side of the building. An explanation of the project flows in written pieces throughout the display. Reads a segment: “In our project, we began by sourcing as many plants as we could from the Loomis greenhouse thanks to Mrs. [Sarah] Griggs, specifically basil and geranium, and also sourcing spices, fruits, and teas from local stores.”  

In presentations to the classes, Cathy and Daphne spoke about the environmental impact of many store-bought paints. “Then the students in each workshop had the opportunity to paint their own pieces using the paints we created based on our prompt, which was a favorite memory, experience, or place in nature,” Daphne said. Cathy and Daphne gathered all the artwork to exhibit on the wall and included a small booklet of swatches and notes for how to create plant-based paints. 

Tristan Buttimer: Bird Walk and Bird Houses 

Tristan’s capstone involved building three birdhouses for the campus and leading students on a bird walk. “When I was thinking of my capstone, I wanted to connect members of the community to birds and maybe help the birds themselves,” Tristan said. 

He built the birdhouses in the Pearse Hub for Innovation with the help of Scott MacClintic ’82, the director of innovation. The wood he used carries meaning: it was from Founders Hall. Two of the birdhouses are mounted in the Meadows. A third birdhouse, in the community garden, is equipped with a camera inside it in hopes of documenting a nest being built. 

Tristan became interested in bird-watching when he was about 7 and a friend introduced him to it. “We went to this birdhouse,” Tristan recalled, “and knocked. Out popped a flying squirrel. Kind of funny that a squirrel got me into birding, but I think it’s the idea that you never know what you will see.” 

During the bird walk in the Meadows on the edges of campus, the group saw robins, red-winged blackbirds, blue jays, cardinals, and a downy woodpecker. A sharp-shinned hawk flew overhead. A wood duck that had been perched on a branch took flight as the group approached. The Merlin app, which helps identify birds, picked up other varieties of feathered friends during the walk. 

So what is it about birds that people find fascinating? 

“Part of it is the nature of birds,” Tristan said. “They fly, they sing, they’re beautiful. It is the wonder of nature in one tiny package.” 

And, Tristan said, when you hear a bird and you finally track it down, there is that “sense of surprise, accomplishment, wonder, and awe — everything you want from nature.”