Greenhouse Crew
CAMPUS SERVICE
I joined the greenhouse crew in my second semester at an invitation of a friend who was planning on starting a new project with tea plants. Not a tea expert nor a frequent tea drinker, I had no idea about how tea plants look like or how they are grown. Instead of turning away, I became curious about the project and how it was going to be executed. The reason was strong enough to prompt me to become part of the ExEd.
Plants do not need much attention at a time, though they need it more frequently. Therefore, our ExEd time was kept short with more responsibility given to each student that was sparse out through the entire week. Often, on my rotation, I would stop by the greenhouse before lunch to check on the plants. The tasks were to water them and check for any changes in the soil and the greenhouse's temperature – not a lot, though I had to keep myself on track. As all of us in the ExEd were working together collaboratively in taking care of the plants, failure to check and water them on any day might result in a bigger problem that would affect everyone as a whole.
Turns out there were a lot more about plants that I never knew about. Only for different types of tea plants, there were different amount of sunlight and water needed, different ranges temperature ideal for growing, different time of the year that is best for growing, different spacing between each seedling, and many more. All of the requirements needed distinct attention and commitment from the crew. I struggled greatly in the beginning since I did not have any knowledge about tea plants before, though by consistently working with them and my peers who were more experienced than me, the task soon became easier.
In addition to the tea plants, there were also more projects that were initiated by a member of the ExEd. For an instance, we once started growing bonsai trees – a unique kind of plants which requires diligent attention to almost every detail. The growing process was based on trials and errors as we experimented with the plants. Overall, the ExEd was a great fun and challenge to me.
