At Cal Poly, Learn By Doing events provide students with educational demonstrations. Recently, one such event was a cork harvesting demonstration put on by a company that sells corks worldwide. The campus has 50 to 100 cork oak trees. Approximately 200 people attended the demo. “We asked, and no one at the event had seen a cork harvest before,” said Matt Ritter, a biological sciences professor and director of the Cal Poly Plant Conservatory. “This is a classic Cal Poly thing where we provide an opportunity for students to see something they never get a chance to see.”
“I was really fascinated to see the harvesting process and was surprised to see how quickly they were able to harvest each tree,” second-year plant science major Maya Peña told Cal Poly News. “I expected it to be a longer and more involved process. Seeing how much cork was taken off during the event was really neat to watch.”
Peña said the event also gave her an opportunity to learn more about the different jobs available in the horticulture industry, especially those that are lesser-known.
Learn by Doing projects tied into the institution’s motto have included a Living Library exhibit featuring an indoor eco-lawn, a living wall and green space designed by the campus Horticulture Club. Cal Poly architecture and landscape architecture students designed proposals for a future Learn By Doing Commons. And much more!
Read more about it here.
