REU students and mentors participate in art and cultural programs

On Friday afternoon, students explored an open studio hosted by Harvard Forest’s artist in residence and Bullard Fellow, Debby Kaspari.

Tara Mahendrarajah, a student attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst exclaimed, “Her art was intricate and beautiful, depicting trees from Martha’s Vineyard and from across the region. She showed us her tools and instruments too and discussed her artistic process, taking photographs so she could remember what she saw. It was really cool, actually.”

On Tuesday evening, the students had the opportunity to learn more about the local area at Orange’s own Millers River Café, located in downtown Orange. The owners, Jeannie and Brenda, shared their wide breadth of knowledge of area attractions with students and mentors over a dessert reception.

The café is located right in Trailhead, an outdoors shop stocking primarily locally produced and sold items. One student comments, “I learned a lot about the region, it was refreshing to see people genuinely excited about their local area.” All the students took home information about the North Quabbin Woods project from coordinator Kirby Lecy and left energized with ideas for the rest of their summer.