Chicken Key
STUDENT BIO
Image Taken by Esmeralda Iyescas (CC by 4.0)
Hello there! My name is Lorena Cuenca and I am currently a junior at Florida International University studying Business Management. I am an aspiring law student and I plan on applying to law school in the fall of this year and graduating within three to four years to begin practicing as a corporate attorney. Apart from my professional career goals, I also enjoy singing, dancing, choreographing, and writing lyrics from time to time.
WHO
This semester I was given the opportunity to join Professor Bailly and some of his students for a clean-up project of Chicken Key. John William Bailly is a resident artist under the Deering Estate as well as a professor for Florida International University where his courses such as Art Society & Conflict and Miami focus on learning about the city and how its history has affected its inhabitants and their forms of expression.
WHY
While this activity has nothing to do with my major nor the career path in which I am heading it is something I have been wanting to do for a couple of months now. I, unfortunately, missed the chance to join my class during their clean-up last semester due to personal reasons and it was something that I was really looking forward to.
HOW
During the last month of the semester, Professor Bailly had mentioned that he was hosting a clean-up of Chicken Key and was looking for a couple more students to join in on the excursion. I quickly jumped at the idea and asked if this activity could be considered as the service project of the semester and after getting the okay I immediately asked if I could join in. Since then, I had begun to prepare for what might come.
WHERE & WHAT
The day started off with meeting Professor Bailly at Deering Estate. After waiting for a couple of more students to join us we picked out the paddles that we were going to be using, put on our life jackets, and pairing up to drop the canoes onto the water.
We placed our things in the canoe and got ready to go on our merry way. In the beginning, the journey was certainly filled with obstacles. It was my first time canoeing and was not confident we would make it out. After a while paddling and many collisions with other students, we made it to the south side of Chicken Key where we tied our canoe to another and settled our things down. Before setting up a plan for the day’s events we took some time to enjoy the water and the scenery. The water was as refreshing as ever on a hot day and the view was peaceful and beautiful; I could not imagine doing anything to possibly put the island or its image in danger. I put on my gloves to protect my hands from anything I might grab and got ready to collect trash. I went off on my own with my water bottle, phone, and trash bag in hand. After a bit of walking in the direction opposite to other students, I set my things down and headed into a more intertwined area. I found some empty beer bottled and plenty of Tupperware lids, as well as a Styrofoam ball tethered to a long piece of rope which I later was told, was a trap for some of the animals on the island. On my way out I came across a small crab that seemed to be making its way out as well. After a while of serene trash-collecting, I started heading back to base where I encountered Professor Bailly taking some of the canoes to the other side of the island for the students to place their bags. I anticlimactically hopped in the water and joined him.
On our way down the side of the island, Bailly noticed a spotted eagle ray in the water and eagerly took out his phone to capture the moment. In that second, I realized that the minimum exposure I had to wildlife outside this class had been all thanks to the exploitation of animals for monetary gains in aquariums and zoos; it was kind of a bitter-sweet realization for me. We eventually met up with more students and after collecting their bags we headed back to base to have lunch together. We ate, conversed, and headed into the water for a break before the second collection of the day. After a quick dip, we headed out to collect as much as we could before returning to the mainland. I set off to see what I was missing by not having gone with the other students to the other side of Chicken Key. I almost felt like a lone adventurer looking for something that had yet to have been discovered; I was definitely living out a fantasy whilst picking up empty soda cans and plastic forks. The trip was coming to an end after the second round. We started packing up our things and getting ready to depart and canoe back towards Deering to dispose of everything we had gathered. Slowly but surely, we all started getting back and loaded the truck with everything we brought back. After getting rid of everything we headed our separate ways holding onto the memory of what we had done together.
WHEN
SUMMARY
I had so much fun helping with this project. Despite having walked away with a couple of scrapes and bruises it is something I am considering doing again. It was incredibly fulfilling to know that I had done something good and had a blast while doing it. At the beginning of our trip, I posted a small clip of us on our canoes on my personal Instagram and some friends of mine reached out to me to ask about what exactly I was doing out there. After explaining what we had done, they mentioned that they were interested in joining Professor Bailly on his next clean-up of Chicken Key. I will definitely be returning to help out once more with some friends next time and I will be looking forward to doing so until the time comes. Knowing that this project was something I got to participate in is something I will likely talk about until I am grey and old. I can already see myself recalling the memories of the “good old days” where I canoed out to Chicken Key and spent the day collecting trash with an amazing professor and some new friends.
Miami in Miami 