My First Blog

Hi, my name is Eric Yuan. This is my first blog. I have been working at Hester Street Collaborative for 2 weeks. I worked at Hester Street Collaborative last year. I am a freshmen from John Dewey High School. We have been learning how to silk screen. I have been working in the garden and found out about the tree that is sick. Before I talk about this, lets begin from the beginning.

The first day at Hester Street Collaborative was a dusty day. We have extreme cleaning going on at the basement: dust was flying everywhere and every one was sneezing, but I thought it was a great day. I have talked to the workers. We talk about ourselves and we have become good working buddies. These one and a half weeks we have been learning how to silk screen. Each of the workers has to come up with a design to use for silk-screening. My design is a tree and 2 fruits on it and the print did not come out as bad as I thought it would. It was really fun I mix different color of paint so I can get the color I needed for my design. I have been at the garden a few times. It has changed a lot since last year. The plants have been moved around and tiles that were made by the kids at P.S.134 are on the floor. Today when me, Dylan and Annie went to the garden we noticed that the peach tree was sick. It has this slime coming out of the trunk, so we took some pictures and some slime back to the office so we could find out how to save the tree from dying. Don’t worry; we will do what we can to save the tree.

I have been doing research on a park named Teardrop Park. It is named Teardrop Park because of the shape of the space. The park was built in 2004. To build the park it took close to 20 times more than other NYC playgrounds to be built. On the research I found out that the park is not really what the people want. Beside sitting there is not much to do. The spot you will find most used by the children is the slide.

First Week at HSC

Hey everyone! This is Carmen Wong. Like Mindy, I am an intern from Fiorello H. LaGuardia H.S. of Music & Arts and Performing Arts. I discovered HSC through the LEARN program in my school. This program offers students the opportunity to experience what it is like to have a full time job and to enhance our skills and knowledge. When I heard that HSC is a design/build organization that helps communities improve their physical environment, I knew that I wanted to take part in this program.

Within the first week, I learned how to properly tend a garden and create prints by using the silk screening technique. Silk screening is simple and fun, but its process takes a great deal of time. I have already completed my design. I can’t wait to print! In the meantime, I am working on my research project about Van Cortlandt Park. I plan to go up there one day to continue my research. It is the LAST stop on the 1 train, so far away! I chose to investigate this park because I am familiar with it. It has many great facilities and a large forest. It is usually overflowing with many local people and visitors. I am interested in learning what others think of the park, which facilities they use, any problems they find and if the park has any significant meaning to them. I think Van Cortlandt Park is a wonderful place to exercise, relax, spend time with family or hang out with friends. It is also very accessible. Right now, I need to think of a thesis for my project.

In a week or two, HSC will be having a design/build camp for kids from ages 6- 10. The other interns and I will be helping them make stepping-stones. I think it will be fun. This will be different for me since I’ve never really worked with kids before. Anyways, I am looking forward to it. Well, times up. I must go. See you all next week!