On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, the AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch hosted their 195th event, which was from 8:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. They had once again partnered with Maureen Reagan for another event. The event was to celebrate and teach others about Climate Change Week.
Roxanna was there at the start of the event to help guide us through the first stage of the event. She showed us all the different types of weeds such as mugwort, galinsoga, lambsquarters, and dandelions. Roxanna gave us some physical examples of these weeds by pulling them out of the nearby dirt.
After Roxanna taught us about the different weeds, we were each given a jar. These jars were to be filled with whatever we wanted to create our own microecosystem. First, our members put as much soil as they wanted into the jars. To give the microecosystem a more solid substrate, we put in a few small pebbles. Soon after, we were given moss and bark to add a bit of decoration. Soon, our members began thinking of what else they could add, and starting adding things they could find. Some members added flowers, others added bugs such as pill bugs and springtails. When all of our members were satisfied with what they had made, we were instructed to add a few spritzes of water to hydrate the microecosystem and close the jar.
To wrap up the event, Maureen gave the middle schoolers paint, paintbrushes, water and a paper butterfly to color in. Meanwhile, the high schoolers made holly wreaths that could be hung up. The middle schoolers painted the butterflies with vibrant colors. After they were done painting, the butterflies were hung on a clothesline to dry off. The high school students used clippers to cut twigs into usable objects that they could use to make the wreaths. They decided to start adding some other things to it, such as flowers and small pieces of grass.
All of our members had a great time that day. They learnt a lot about weeds and climate change. We would like to thank Roxanna and Maureen for helping us have this wonderful event!
Our Volunteers:
1. Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 3.5 hours
2. Vicki Lin : 3.5 hours
3. Hong Hao Liu : 3.5 hours
4. Ioklee Lin : 3.5 hours
5. Zhiheng Zhou : 3.5 hours
6. Sophia You : 3.5 hours
7. Stephanie You : 3.5 hours
8. Ricky Song : 3.5 hours
9. Aiden Lin : 3 hours
10. Brandon Lin : 3 hours
11. Selena You: 3 hours
12. Steven Zhu : 3 hours
13. Patrick Yeung : 3 hours
14. Benny Yeung : 3 hours
15. Henry Jiang : 3 hours
16. Adrian Jiang : 3 hours
17. Zhanger Li : 3 hours
18. Bowen Chen : 3 hours
19. Austin Li : 3 hours
20. Ryan Wu : 3 hours
21. Luke Chen : 3 hours
22. Danny Lin : 3 hours
23. Matthew Lin : 2.5 hours
24. Yue Yu : 2 hours
25. Teng Yu : 2 hours
26. Tyrone Li : 2 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Fannie Li: 4 hours
Karen Liao: 4 hours
Faye Liu: 4 hours
Report Written by: Ioklee Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
