My Prairie Adventure

My Prairie Adventure
Sabrina Rosario, Campus Coordinator, CRH at KWU
July 31, 2023

A few days before departing for Salina, Kansas, I met up with some friends in Concord, North Carolina, to say goodbye. It was an emotional day. We were in the thick of COVID, and not only was it great to meet with friends in person, albeit in a safe-social-distancing environment, 但是当我在一个章节的结尾和另一个章节的开始摇摇欲坠时，能够分享我的兴奋真是太棒了.

我的朋友们对我前往这个国家中心地带的热情感到惊讶. Spending months shuttered in my apartment, I had plenty of time to explore the internet watching videos, looking at photos, 阅读有关堪萨斯和萨利纳的旅游信息和帖子. There was so much I didn’t yet know about my new home, 更不用说我正处于个人生活和职业生涯中充满活力和变革的悬崖边上.

I have always been a nature nerd, 所以我惊喜地发现，我第一次体验草原生活的经历激发了我新书的标题“我的草原冒险”.“作为一名生物科学专业的本科生，我应该确定一个重点领域. 我想要的只是让这个星球变得更美好(这不是一个选择). I wanted to stay true to my purpose in life, 找到解决方案，提高我们的生活质量，并在我有生之年维持我们的地球.

我第一眼看到的中西部，连绵起伏的丘陵和无边无际的地平线，让我想起了天线宝宝! As we drove across the vast prairie (at 75 mph!), I inhaled the natural beauty, 于是我开始考虑清点一下生活在山脚下与山脚下相接的珍贵阴影地带的种群数量，并将其与生活在开阔草地上的种群数量进行比较. The prairie is enchanting, and the landscape is beautiful. This land moves you.

我们的家人受到了大学和萨利纳社区的热烈欢迎. 这个有5万人口的小镇拥有中西部最善良的人. KWU staff and administrators, neighbors, friends, people from church, 和我一起在草原上散步的朋友只是少数几个人，他们让我们在很短的时间内就有了家的感觉，让我们意识到萨利纳是一个多么特别的地方.

Fast forward eight months, 当我盯着大学联合卫理公会教堂的四张苗床等待种植时, across the street from Kansas Wesleyan, I was dreaming of what this small garden could someday become. 我们谈论并梦想着一个不仅能改造教堂和大学的新项目, but also the Salina community. The coalescing of this small garden, 导师项目和新的社区恢复中心给我带来了一种我从未体验过的新能量.

在过去的一年里，已经发展了很多东西，推动了社区恢复中心项目向前发展. Inspiring conversations with community leaders, nonprofits, schools, local and government officials, 国家和国际组织产生了巨大的能量, 围绕我们培养社区恢复力的团结模式的兴奋和可能性.

我们创建了一个具有广度和深度的模式，这是我参与过的任何其他项目都无法比拟的. I see the CRH as a convener, a place that brings people to the table to find common ground, to innovate and to create solutions for a better world. Our framework focuses on education, action, 倡导以合作的方式建立韧性，以解决复杂问题并促进变革.

从大学社区的角度来看，CRH是千亿国际登录跨学科合作的. 我们希望提供与可持续性和弹性相关的关键领域的培训机会，以补充专业，并为学生毕业后的相关工作做好准备. 我们的跨学科教师团队正在创造解决方案和令人兴奋的教育机会，可以超越校园的每一个专业.

We have chosen to focus on food first, 因此，我们目前的举措旨在解决粮食不安全问题，并侧重于可再生农业. 我们正在为现有学生设计新的农业生态学学术课程，并为希望从传统农业过渡到再生农业的农民提供证书. We’ve partnered with the Rodale Institute to bring its RIFT training program and a Rodale Research Center to Salina. 这项再生有机研究可以应用于中原生物群落，为我们堪萨斯州的农民创造解决方案.

We are working together with partners on a Local Food Corridor between Salina and Wichita, to increase local food production, aggregation, and distribution, where a farmer grows for their own community, shortening the supply chain. This project will establish a mobile farmers market, following the Common Ground model, that buys local and moves the produce to food deserts. 这一倡议事关粮食公正，确保每个人都能获得健康食品.

8月，我们将提供第二次民间话语培训，以消除治理中两极分化的负面影响, education, and communities. (August 8 and 9, 2023; there is still time to register). CRH is equipping students, faculty, staff, and our community with tools to engage in healthy dialogue. 我们的目标是找到共同点，并作为一个社区共同努力，在当地倡导, state and federal levels. Together, 我们可以创造一种环境，使过渡到一种更全面的农业方式——一种接地气的世界观——成为可能.

The CRH can be a catalyst in promoting diversity. 我来自巴西，这个国家是世界上生物多样性最高的国家之一. 我们可以也应该利用自然的智慧来思考我们的社会. 正如更多的生物多样性导致所有生物群系对困难挑战的更有创造性的适应一样, more diversity across anything–be it a biome, people in a meeting, grasses in our lawns, bacteria in your gut–always results in healthier, more resilient environments. I see the CRH as a (bio) diversity weaver, promoting the convening of different change agents, 把每个人的声音都带到谈判桌上，以解决我们这个时代最大的挑战:减少破坏性, more sustainable, resilient way of life.

My dreams for the CRH extends beyond food. We will use research, tools, 知识和资源来考察校园，就像我们考察农场一样. How are we using energy and water? 我们还能在哪些领域减少破坏性，提高可持续性呢? 当我们完成这项工作后，我们就可以开始将这个模式扩展到社区. 萨利纳是一个小而强大的城市，蕴含着如此多的艺术和文化(在我看来，这是创新的“入门药”)。, and has unique, open-minded people, 是什么为高铁和九龙医院成为永久的变革推动者奠定了基础.

我迫不及待地想让这些想法展现出来，改变我们的校园和更广泛的社区. 我也知道他们将在我生命的这一篇章中留下不可磨灭的骄傲回忆.