When the first meeting came and the teacher talked about counting Mangrove leaves and planting, I was less than thrilled about the task.

I thought it would be tedious and pointless to spend a day doing it, but I also imagined it differently. When we actually did it, it wasn’t that hard, and it was actually kind of fun.

I also understood why it was necessary to do the planting and counting. I also got to cut up the bamboo with a machete and a stick. That was scary and exhilarating.

I’m very klutzy and really shouldn’t be handling tools, but I did it for the experience, and I’m really glad that I did it.

Overall, it was cool to see how each of our steps and little jobs all came together and made a difference: digging the holes, counting the leaves, cutting the bamboo to hold the mangroves together, planting the mangroves in low tide, taking out the dead mangroves, knowing the number in each plot, keeping track of what mangrove is which, etc.