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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

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VOLUME 147, ISSUE 0 | THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2023

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Here’s how to make the most of your college experience Graduating seniors share their biggest college regrets BY CORALIE LOON arts@theaggie.org

NATALIE CHENG / AGGIE No one wants to have regrets. At the same time, as a newly admitted freshman, the idea that you still have your entire college experience to do the things you want to do can sometimes overpower your will to do those things. And, next thing you know, you’re being handed a diploma and saying goodbye

to the world you feel like you just entered. So what does it really mean to make the most of your college experience? And do most students do everything they want to, or do they walk away wishing things were different? According to one survey of recent

college graduates, most students surveyed reported having no regrets, and those with regrets most commonly mentioned student loans, areas of study or the ability to network. Another source cited common college regrets as not getting enough work experience, not making or maintaining enough friendships and not traveling or studying abroad. Many of these examples point to regrets that aren’t tied to academic success. Few graduating seniors seem to think they didn’t study enough, but many feel they didn’t try hard enough in other areas. Kai Uchio, a fourth-year environmental science and management major, shared his college regrets. “I wish that I had applied for more internship and job opportunities and communicated with TAs and professors more,” Uchio said. Work experience, in fact, is the regret Career Addict puts in the #1 slot. With school and student jobs taking up so much time, it’s no wonder careerrelated work experience is difficult to prioritize. Talking with more people and expanding social horizons, however, is something that may require less time to achieve.

Weight measurements no longer required to receive care at Student Health and Counseling Services

New “Decline to Weigh” policy and other recent body inclusivity initiatives seek to increase patient comfort during appointments and reduce weight stigma on campus

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wonderful people and do things I never thought I’d be capable of doing.” Sievers, who graduated last quarter with majors in sociology and communication, believes that college is all about embracing discomfort, something that took her a while to fully embrace. “College is a time for major selfgrowth, and to really allow that to happen you need to really allow yourself to explore the unknown,” Sievers said. When asked what advice they would give themselves as college freshmen, those interviewed unanimously agreed that not letting self-doubt get in the way of new experiences was the best way to conquer fears and limit regrets. “Choose confidence and understand the power you have,” Masterson said. “It is easy to second guess yourself and what you are capable of, but that is only selling yourself short.” Getting out of your comfort zone could be something as big as signing up for a student-led backpacking trip or as small as giving a friendly compliment to a fellow classmate. Whatever it is, just don’t wait until you graduate to do it.

New carbon farming techniques can help mitigate climate change

City-owned farm Howat Ranch sets precedent in Yolo County area for offsetting carbon emissions BY ZOE SMITH city@theaggie.org

BY JADE BELL campus@theaggie.org

A patient satisfaction survey conducted by Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) during the summer of 2020 revealed that one of the main deterrents of students seeking out medical care at the SHCS facility was the required weight measurement at appointments. As a result, SHCS created and implemented of a new policy that allows students to decline being weighed if it is not necessary to their appointment purpose. Shantille Connolly, a health promotion specialist at SHCS, explained the details and results of this survey. “We are tracking the number of people who have opted out of being weighed,” Connolly said. “So far, in this school year, 318 students declined to be weighed when they came in for an appointment. In fall quarter, we were using a card system [...], but now we changed it to where the MA just asks, ‘Would you like to be weighed

“I would tell myself that professors aren’t so scary and you should get used to going out of your comfort zone to talk to people,” Uchio said when asked what advice he would give to his freshman self. Bella Masterson, a fourth-year psychology and human development double major, shared her regrets as well. “I think what I regret is not making more connections and putting effort into meeting new people and trying new things,” Masterson said. While Masterson was busy studying and gaining work and internship experience, she said she wished she had participated more socially and joined on-campus clubs. “I think I tend to stick to what I know, but college is a great time to try new things because there are so many opportunities to do that,” Masterson said. Recent college graduate Cate Sievers also wished she had gotten out of her comfort zone more. “I definitely regret allowing fear and anxiety to hold me back for so long,” Sievers said. “Once I learned how to overcome those obstacles it felt like a whole new part of the world was available to me. I got to meet so many

JOANNE SUN / AGGIE today?’ And then the patient can say yes or no.” Connolly said that in February, before the change was implemented, only around 15 students took advantage of the card to decline to be weighed. By comparison, when the new practice was implemented in March, 137 students declined to be weighed. “It really shows that when you change the practices of an organization, it increases access and gives the patients more autonomy,” Connolly said. Medically speaking, according to Connolly, it’s not always necessary to weigh a student if that’s not the main point of their appointment. However, she noted that in instances where an exact weight is necessary, it will now be recorded in a way that allows the patients to remain unaware of the number on the scale. “Some medications are weightbased in order for them to effectively work, so we do have the option for a blind weight,” Connolly said. “[This] is where they turn their back toward the scale, so they don’t have to see the number. [The MA] would tell the patient that the medication they are in for is weight-based, so they need an accurate weight to prescribe the correct dosage.” In addition to the measures being implemented by SHCS, Connolly said that similar steps are being taken across campus to “build and maintain a body-inclusive environment.” She attributed some of this to a response to student feedback collected via the free response survey that SHCS ran. “The bookstore, for example, was talked about a lot for not having a

variety of sizes available,” Connolly said. “Keep in mind that this was in 2020, so things have changed — they have changed their clothing vendors specifically to go with clothing vendors who have a wide variety of sizes. The bookstore is trying to be more intentional about that [...] as a result of the survey.” SHCS also received feedback from students in regards to how they felt in classroom spaces, in particular, how lecture hall seating affected their mental health and academic performance. “We just did a pilot [program] in Olson Hall,” Connolly said via email. “We wanted to know how classroom seating that was not size-inclusive was negatively impacting students’ mental health. And we found that students were really anxious and stressed about coming to class because they couldn’t find seats that fit their body [and] couldn’t focus because they were in seats that were digging into their sides or they couldn’t position their laptop or iPad to take notes appropriately. So it impacted their academic performance and just overall sense of belonging.” Connolly addressed these issues by sharing what campus policy updates are being made to better accommodate all bodies in classroom seating. “We did update the campus policy — all new furniture that is purchased should be at least 400 pounds in weight capacity, 22 inches wide and armless whenever possible,” Connolly said. “That policy was enacted before the Teaching and Learning Complex was complete, so all the furniture in there complies with that policy.”

In collaboration with Yolo County Resource Conservation District, the city of Davis’s Community Development and Sustainability department is working to implement carbon farming techniques that will enhance the local habitat while also drawing as much carbon from the air. Chris Gardner, the city’s open space lands manager, and Tracie Reynolds, the manager of the leases and the open space program, are heading the project for the city. This is all happening on one specific farm: Howat Ranch, a 760acre city-owned agricultural property that is the first of its kind in Davis. In 2019, the city of Davis began to use carbon farming techniques on Howat Ranch after they were approached by the Carbon Cycle Institute, a group that uses and promotes farming practices that create increased carbon capture in hopes of combating climate change. Pelayo Alvarez worked for the Carbon Cycle Institute for over seven years and said that his team initially brought the idea of carbon farming to the city of Davis. The Carbon Cycle Institute partners with resource conservation districts, such as the Yolo County RCD, as well as landowners, farmers and forest owners to implement conservation practices using certain funding programs. “Most of the funding is from federal programs, like Natural Resources Conservation Service, EQIP Program or Conservation Stewardship Program,” Alvarez said. “We help the landowners find the funding and then help them with technical assistance. We’re trying to promote carbon farming across the state.” On Howat Ranch, the city is using a two-prong approach to mitigate climate change by reducing tillage

and planting hedgerows in farming practices. One of these habitat-enhancing techniques is called “hedgerows,” which are strips of densely planted trees or shrubs that provide wind breaks on the farm. This creates better conditions for healthy soil and provides biodiversity on the farm. Reynolds and Gardner’s team has already planted 200 trees and shrubs on Howat Ranch and plan to plant more. The city is also working on a plan to turn 200 acres of Howat’s farmland into a wetland. To increase carbon capture, the farmers who rent Howat Ranch also uses crop rotation, which means over the span of four or five years, he plants different crops to keep the soul healthy. The crops in the rotation are alfalfa, winter wheat and either sunflowers or safflower. He has also converted all his farm equipment to Tier 4 engines, which are the cleanest in terms of emissions, and practices reduced tilling. This means that “He tries to pass over the land once and he only goes down about six inches,” according to Reynolds. All of these practices help to keep the carbon that’s already in the ground there while improving soil composition and health. Together, these actions limit the amount of carbon emitted from producing crops. “The city just recently approved the climate action and adaptation plan called the CAP update,” Reynolds said. “One of the many action items is to do carbon farm plans for the other city agricultural properties. So we’ll be looking into doing a couple more in the next year or so, but right now, this is the only one that we have.” CARBONFARMING on 8

Howat Ranch (pictured), a 760-acre city-owned farm, is being used to test new methods for offsetting carbon emissions. Chris Gardner (Courtesy)