亚洲AV

Students go batty with their capstone project

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three students with sign on Wilkins Plaza
Mason seniors Bryan Childers, Emma Kendrick and Amanda Tisdale organized the bat box-building workshop as the capstone project for their Sustainability in Action class. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications

Bats. We think about them around Halloween, and your mind invariably conjures creepy images of a blood-thirsty companion for witches and vampires.

But Amanda Tisdale, a 亚洲AV senior majoring in , sees something different.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e mainly neglected when aerial organisms are spoken about,鈥 she said before ticking off the positive characteristics of the winged, bug-eating, pollinating machines. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e actually a big part of the community.鈥

That鈥檚 why Tisdale and her teammates鈥攕eniors Emma Kendrick (environmental and sustainability studies) and Bryan Childers ()鈥攄ecided to build bat boxes for a capstone project in their EVPP 480 Sustainability in Action class.

students building a bat box
Students were able to paint and decorate the bat box they created. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications

They went a step further, too, staging a bat box building event on October 28 next to Wilkins Plaza on the Fairfax Campus, where anyone could grab a hammer and start building to a soundtrack that included Warren Zevon鈥檚 鈥淲erewolves of London,鈥 the Talking Heads鈥 鈥淧sycho Killer,鈥 and Michael Jackson鈥檚 鈥淭hriller.鈥

Childers, general manager of WGMU Radio, and his deejays publicized the event on the air. Email blasts were sent out and signs were hung around campus. Childers, who called bats 鈥渋nteresting鈥 and 鈥渓esser-appreciated creatures,鈥 said about 25 people showed up to build bat boxes they took home.

A grant paid for the supplies that included wood and mesh that the bats will grab when they roost, keeping them safe and warm.

鈥淭he goal is to make global problems local,鈥 said , an assistant professor in the who teaches the class. 鈥淭he students study all these big global problems, but they don鈥檛 necessarily have a way to apply local solutions where they can be hands on and engage and develop solutions. This class gives them an opportunity to bring it down to a local level where they can actually engage.鈥

鈥淚t鈥檚 forcing us to go out there and take action,鈥 Kendrick said of the project. 鈥淧lanning the project has been helpful, and the research we鈥檝e put into this learning about bats, about how to approach conservation that鈥檚 best for the local area. Those are awesome skills I鈥檝e gained from doing this that I鈥檒l take away with me.鈥

three woman work on a wooden structure
Mason professor Jennifer Sklarew (right), who teaches the Sustainability in Action course, participated in the workshop. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications

It's the kind of problem solving and community engagement that thrives at Mason, which challenges us to solve problems and meet opportunities with inquisitiveness, new ideas and energy.

More than 200 bat species in 60 countries are considered threatened, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. And Bat World reports that the fungal disease white nose syndrome has wiped out 90% of little brown bats in the northeast.

The consequences could be dire. Bats eat copious amounts of bugs, pollinate a wide array of plants, and their guano is a suitable fertilizer for plants and lawns.

鈥淪o I鈥檓 advising people,鈥 Tisdale said, 鈥渢hat if they have a home garden, put the box above the garden and you鈥檒l have free fertilizer.鈥

The team also is conducting research on the possibility of installing bat boxes on the Fairfax Campus.

鈥淚t will mean a lot to me,鈥 Tisdale said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like leaving a lasting mark on this school and this campus. I want to impact Mason sustainably in a good way that will last for many years to come.鈥