Have you ever wondered if those pesky weeds in your backyard are just that, or if they are actually an integral part of Pennsylvania’s ecosystem?
A newly GCCI-funded project will soon let you know.
Professors AnaLu MacVean, Environmental Horticulture, Emily Rund, Filmmaking, and their students are teaming up to spread awareness and educate the community about invasive plant species, their threat to native flora and fauna in Pennsylvania, and what can be done about them.
In Pennsylvania, there are more than 140 invasive plant species and several thousand non-native species. These plants can harm local wildlife by taking resources away from native species. The project, “The Uninvited Guests: Telling the Stories of Invasive Plant Species in Our Neighborhoods,” engages YCP students in the courses Plant Taxonomy and Documentary Filmmaking to create four educational videos. These classes include students from a wide range of majors, including Horticulture, Mass Communications, Film & Media Arts, and Sport Media.
While each course focuses on different content, they will meet together throughout the Fall 2025 semester for a shared lab, where they will learn how to conduct interviews for documentaries, decide which species will be featured in the videos, plan and create their videos. Taxonomy students then collect, identify, and document different invasive species. Documentary Filmmaking students will research different techniques used for filmmaking and documentaries, and work in collaboration with taxonomy peers on filming and editing techniques.
MacVean and Rund hope that through this extraordinary project, they not only bring awareness to the dangers of invasive plants but also help students gain new skills and confidence in a creative format—broadening their academic experience and reaching a diverse audience. As an experiential learning opportunity, the project will also evaluate the effectiveness of this interdisciplinary approach. Professor MacVean shares, “As of now, we have IRB approval to conduct a pre-survey to get a baseline of the students' knowledge and participation in cross-disciplinary projects.”
The target release date for all four parts is June 2026, and the videos will be published on several websites, including the YCP YouTube page and various social media platforms, as well as a public showing downtown at Marketview Arts. At the end of the project, the instructors will share the results of their study on student learning.
