It's not too much of a stretch to say that, for the docents of UCLA's Mildred E Mathias Botanical Garden, providing training and tours for schoolchildren, civic groups, horticultural clubs, and seniors associations is a little bit like volunteering in heaven on earth.
Organized in April 1996 by Beverly Shaffer, the docent corps is a group of hardy and dedicated individuals. They come from varied backgrounds but share a love of the garden and of UCLA. Many are UCLA alumni, and all either retired or have structured their schedules in such a way that they can generously volunteer their time. Some docents prefer to lead tours, while others assist with administrative tasks. Still others volunteer as gardeners, working under the supervision of Rank Plewak, senior garden manager.
Professor Gibson, director of the garden, provides training free of charge for all docents accepted into the program. This training comprises six to eight classes, presented over a two-month period, and is offered twice a year (in the spring and in the fall). Anyone who has been lucky enough to study with Professor Gibson knows him to be someone who shares his knowledge with the same degree of excitement as a little boy discovering something for the first time. He makes scientific information easily accessible to the layperson in a practical and magical way. To ease new docents into botanical terminology, typically Professor Gibson will lecture for approximately half an hour on his chosen topic for the day, often providing extensive written materials to supplement the lecture. Then he spends the balance of the class period leading a tour of garden plants, providing a basic, hands-on learning experience.
The topics our docents study are as varied as the plant families and species that make up the garden collection. Docents learn about green urban areas--parks, gardens, and outdoor museums--and their similarities and differences. The training also covers structural botany and plant biodiversity; how plants grow, plant physiological and ecological adaptations to different ecosystems, relationships between animals and plants, economically important plants and special plant chemistry, California native plants, and horticulture for southern California gardens.
The docents' feelings about their work are best summarized in their own words. Helen Friedman says, "As an alumna of UCLA, I volunteer as a MEMBG docent primarily to give back to the university that gave me so much." And Norm Stolba shares, "One of the reasons I am a docent is that the MEMBG is a happy and pleasant place to walk. The positive response I get from those on my tours is the dessert on top of other satisfactions."
CAROL FELIXSON (Docent and Communications Coordinator)