Rheyana & (Plant) Friends - From Here We Part

I​ have always been intrigued by nature so, for my capstone project I

decided to explore that curiosity and see if nature had any health benefits. I noticed that while in

high school, teens tend to face a lot of pressures from all sides. As a teen myself, I face these

same struggles making the problem more personal, giving me more motivation to find a solution.

In school, I saw the personal effects of these pressures on kids. When I did my research, I

realized how large of a problem this is. While it’s basically impossible to stop the sources of

stress for all teens, my research also showed that teenagers don’t know how to properly deal with

their stress; I set out to tackle that problem because it is more possible than eliminating stress

completely. I set out to discover whether or not the rumors were true; that being in natural

environments helped relieve anxiety. With this project, I hope to find out if being in natural

environments is successful in relieving teens’ stress.

F​or this project I bought a collection of houseplants and flower seeds.

When I thought of this project. I planned to make a garden but I had to think about how to make

this method of stress relief available to all teens. To accommodate everyone, I brought natural

environments to everyone with houseplants and encouraged them to spend time outdoors. So I

started buying houseplants and flower seeds to prepare. Despite researching which plants have

specific anti-anxiety benefits I was unable to procure any of those plants because I had limited

financial resources. Once I planted the plants I could afford, I posted about it on the social media

account (@rheyana_plants_capstone) for the sole purpose of this project. With that started, I
began to document my progress by journaling my emotions and stresses every other day to

monitor the changes in my behavior, if any. I spaced out my plants to better prolong its effects. I

had two weeks with my houseplants, half of the project time, before I planted the flower seeds. I

planted them inside of egg cartons and placed them inside my house so I could control the

conditions to ensure their growth. I had thought at first I would plant them outside in the dirt but

because it’s winter and it was raining like crazy, the seeds would’ve died so I had to change

plans and adapt. The weather also made going outside difficult. As a part of this experiment was

to be in natural environments and while bringing plants to you is fun, it’s still not the same as

going outdoors so I made myself go outside for an hour each week but with the weather being

the way it was, I was finding it increasingly hard to do. The first week, I spent a straight hour

outside doing homework and it was good for me but I realized in order to get outdoor time when

it was raining all the time, I couldn’t spend all the time at once. I started to go for 20-30 intervals

throughout the week. The easiest way to do that was walking; I started walking home from

school after rehearsals and to work. As my schedule got busier towards the end of the capstone,

going outside was a tighter fit so walking was the easiest and most logical choice to change to.

O​verall, I feel like this experience has been successful. While not
everything turned out the way I planned, I have learned a lot. I learned that taking care of plants

does indeed lessen anxieties; taking the focus off of your problems helps to relieve stress because

you focus on caring for something else, something with any drama attached to it so you gain

some time to just breathe and when it comes time to face your problems again, you can look at it

with fresh eyes and maybe see a solution you didn’t see before. This relief is temporary though. I
found that just having the plants present but not doing anything for them, isn’t too helpful. The

stress relief aspect is only applicable when you are tending for the plant. That said however, the

effects of the flower seeds I planted seemed to last longer. That may be because of the higher

level of effort required to get them started and the constant care they need. I was actually super

pumped to fall into this caretaker role. I have always been the motherly friend, willing to help

my friends with anything they need but I worried the repetition would become a chore but it

didn’t. I became attached to my plants like they were my children of sorts. That’s a big reason

why I named them; to help them “develop personalities” even though I know they’re not people.

I was surprised at how eager I was for this project. I thought I would be something I would dread

because of what past seniors had told me but it wasn’t bad and it helped me develop the caretaker

side of me more. I am so proud that my seeds germinated. I was scared they wouldn’t but when

their little green tops peeked out of the potting soil I was so overjoyed. It felt so fulfilling to have

created something; to have helped give it life. I don’t regret much in this project but I do wish I

had added more plants. I believe if I had more plants, it would’ve had a bigger impact on me

simply because their sheer number would’ve been a more significant lifestyle change.

P​erhaps the best and most satisfying part of this project, however, was
seeing how my discoveries and my journey inspired other to embark on a similar one of their

own. A friend of mine notified me that my project had inspired her to plant her own flowers. She

got a seed kit for cosmopolitan flowers and she actually gave me one for poppies. She’s so happy

about her plants and that they’ve started to sprout as well. It’s so fun to hear her come up to me

and update me on her flowers. While it seems small, I know I made an impact on someone other
than myself and that fills me with such joy and pride. Another friend told me I inspired her and

she plants and getting a cactus for her houseplant; others still have told me how much they love

my project and just think it’s the cutest thing. Hearing those comments makes me so happy to

know that it was not all for naught it just for a grade; it was meaningful. While I didn’t solve the

epidemic of teenage stress, I hopefully encouraged students to find a healthy outlet to deal with

all the pressures that comes with being a teeenager in high school. I hope that I gave them a push

in the right direction even though I couldn’t try everything because of restrictions and limits. I

don’t have unlimited money so I couldn’t buy as many plants as I wanted or even the ones I read

about in my research as they were on the higher price point. If I had unlimited resources, I would

definitely continue this project and keep adding plants to my collection. I would also start a

garden either in my backyard or even a community garden. But alas gardens require a lot of time

and money I just didn’t have available for the capstone. I definitely want to continue this on after

it ends because it’s been so much fun and even if it’s a not a big life-changing stress destroyer, I

believe it definitely has a positive effect on one’s mental well-being. Because I had so much fun

with my project and I actually want to continue this in after, I would suggest to seniors next year

that they pick something they’re interested in; something that will keep them engaged. When

you’re interested in your topic, you’re more likely to yield better results and do better on the

project, so you’re practically guaranteed to graduate. And best of luck to them, it’s still not easy.

I​t has been a pleasure. To be Continued...

Rheyana Scott ​ ​