Are you curious about your very first assignment as a Water Manager at HZ? Scroll down to read about what my group did this year. There's also a fun movie for you to see.
To start off the first year we were assigned a project in which we have to make a short film about a nature reserve. So, making a mini documentary on a budget. This was an assignment which will be used by an initiative which promotes a large area nearby to become a Unesco Geopark.
What’s a Geopark?
A Geopark is an area, a landscape, which is recognized by Unesco as a geologically important area. This means an area which has an interesting landscape or needs to be protected. An area with the label “Geopark”, granted by Unesco, will be internationally recognized as important. For an area, this means a lot of positive benefits like increased tourism, more jobs in the tourism sector and gateways to be more internationally recognized. The plan for this particular Geopark is designed so that multiple regions in the Netherlands and Belgium will be able to profit from it.
Map of the Geopark. In its borders are a part of West-Brabant, Zeeland and West-Vlaanderen (Belgium).
Students’ role
To get this area to be a Geopark, it needs to meet with a lot of rules and requirements. Good promotion of the plans is also necessary for that. Our task was to make a film about one area of nature within the Geopark borders to show its beauty.
The film my team made was about the “Dintelse Gorzen”. A small nature reserve on the top of the map (shown with the red arrow).
My group, including alsoYoni, Guido and Lars went to the area twice. The first time to “scout” the area and look for nice places to film. The second time to actually film. Unfortunately, autumn kicked in.Many places which were amazing a few weeks earlier, weren’t as pretty anymore the second time. Learning advice: film when things are in top condition. Anyhow, that didn’t get us off our goal of making a nice film. And for what it’s worth, I think we did a good job.
There were 13 groups of students who worked on films. After all the films were finished, the first ever Water Management film festival was organized. All the films were shown and a jury gave feedback on the films. In the end there was a public voting where everyone could vote for their favorite film. In the end, the film about the Dintelse Gorzen won the voting. With this we won a dinner, very useful for us as students ;)
Moments from the film festival
Wish to have a similar fun experience as we as Water Managemers? Sign up for the study programme on our website now.