Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

My Apprentice Ecologist Project

It was nearing midnight and the thought of school the next day was looming in the back of my mind. I couldnâ€™t leave though, I was seeing this project through till the very end. The late nights at Ken Price Ball Park waiting for the games to finish were a tiring but necessary part of my project that I am about to tell you about. My name is Blake Nielson and I have lived in Murray, Utah for most of my life. I am now a senior at Murray High School with a lot of Murray pride in me. Murray is not the only thing I take pride in however. Treating the environment with respect is something that runs in my family; we have taken part in cleanups, adopted rainforest, recycle everywhere we go, use energy efficient appliances, and so on. So when the opportunity came up for me to do something for both of these passions at the same time I jumped at it resulting in my project of cleaning up and shaping up Ken Price Ball Park during the 2009 Babe Ruth World Series.
Ken Price Ball Park is located right outside of Murray Park, dead center heads straight to the arboretum which is one of the parks many entrances. Due to its large seating areas Ken Price is not only Murray Highâ€™s high school field but is home to Babe Ruth leagues from around the area as well as American Legion leagues. As a result of this popularity there is a lot of trash in and around Ken Price at the end of a game. Unfortunately the ball park is littered by random black garbage cans which are not the correct place for much of the trash that is put in them, that is if the trash ever reaches these cans in the first place. Having worked and played at Ken Price I knew this was going to be a problem when the field was selected to host the Babe Ruth World Series. Not only were people from all over the valley coming to the field but teams and families from around the country were going to be in the park as games were played all day long. My best friendsâ€™ dad happens is the Murray Parks Superintendent so one day when I was at his house I asked what he planned to do about the waste management situation at the field. He looked at me and said it wasnâ€™t high on his list of priorities but if I wanted to do something I had his go ahead as long as I didnâ€™t make a mess. I told him that is exactly what I wasnâ€™t going to do.

I had a week and a half before opening night of the World Series. I wasnâ€™t going around waving signs in peoples face and throwing pamphlets at everyone; no I had a different plan of attack. I wanted to sort of give people subliminal messages with different techniques so when they saw the bins they would know what to put in and how important it was to put it in. The first thing I did (with the superintendentâ€™s say so) is that I called to have at least five recycling bins brought to the ball park. I then gathered a few short facts that I thought would be beneficial for people to know and put them on with some pictures on the ten large posters I made to put up around the park. After the posters were made I typed up an announcement that I would ask the commentators to say over the speakers during games and then wrote up little reminders of info to hand out to people to remind them of the importance of recycling. The morning of opening night I went to Ken Price to hang up my posters, place the bins, and speak to the commentators. I took care of what I needed to and went home to prepare for eight days of recycling. That Saturday night there were only performances and fireworks but it was one of the biggest crowds the series would see so I knew this was a big chance to get everyoneâ€™s attention. I would proceed to wait by the main entrance as people went in and out that night to hand out my reminders and as they left to remind them to recycle. After everyone cleared out I went through with the cleaning crew to pick up and separate recyclables from the rest of the trash. On Sunday I was able to be there the whole day and I set up a routine I would follow for the rest of when I would come to the field after school. I planned to go around checking on my signs and pick up trash and put them in the correct bins. While doing this I would listen for my announcement and if I didnâ€™t hear it I would go to the press box and make sure they were still announcing it. After this I would continue to walk around giving my friendly reminders to people while picking up trash. Then at night I would clean up with the cleaning crew continuing to separate the trash and recyclables then I would take out all my bins to be picked up before going home. On Sunday night when I first took them out I was disappointed that most of them were only half full while the black cans were overflowing so I resolved to work harder. On Wednesday there seemed to be a turning point. That morning I had moved my signs around and later that day a man came up to me and asked if I was the one who was in charge of all the recycling stuff. I told him yes and he asked if I could give him more information about recycling because he was from Illinois and it didnâ€™t seem to be such a big deal there. So I told him about all the benefits of recycling and how important it was to the environment. He listened and thanked me saying he was going to recycle more at home. Anyway Iâ€™m not sure what did it but from that point on the bins got heavier and heavier each night until they were overflowing with the correct materials no less! This made me happy beyond belief and it grew as more people found me and thanked me for the information I had provided them; as the world series wrapped I truly felt like I accomplished something.
Ken Price Park is a gem to Murray City. As I stated before it is located right outside of Murray Park which is really what attracts most people in the valley to Murray City. The arboretum in the park is a path to Ken Price so not only should the field be kept clean for players and fans but for all people who walk through the park experiencing the wonders of nature as they come across the field. I have told you about the arboretum that lies dead center to Ken Price. But two other important things lie over the right field fence: The Boys and Girls Club of Murray and Creekside High School. The Murray Boys and Girls Club is the biggest one of its kind in Utah and Creekside is a school for special needs students. All throughout spring and summer kids from these buildings watch games and even get to play themselves on this field. If this is to be an enjoyable experience it needs to be kept clean. During the World Series many of these kids came to enjoy the festivities and I was honored to be able to show them what I could about recycling as they came to this baseball park that is held so highly in their minds. Everyone who attended the World Series had a chance to make environmentally smart choices and now these kids and all the other people who enter Ken Price have the opportunity to make our planet a better place too because of the green bins that now stand next to the black. I would like to think that all the people from different states who came to the World Series took my information and efforts home with them, making not only Ken Price more environmentally friendly but different areas from Florida to California as well.
My project helped myself in different aspects of life. It reminded me of my duty to be a good steward of the planet and also to never settle for less. I could have just done a cleanup of Ken Price but I took it a step further and am so thankful for it. And most importantly it reminded me of the great community I live in. I was incredibly lucky to have been able to do an environmental project that served the city in so many aspects.