Courtesy of Karinne Tennenbaum

Throughout April, Cranes of Yale hid thousands of paper cranes across campus and hosted origami workshops to promote interest in wildlife conservation with students. 

The Yale Birding Student Association, the Japanese American Students Union and Taking Flight — a student initiative that promotes interest in birds — teamed up on the project, which was spearheaded by Taking Flight founder Karinne Tennenbaum ’26 to inspire the next generation of climate leaders through birding. 

The project is funded by the Environmental Humanities Grant Program, which is an effort by Yale to engage a wider public on environmental issues through humanities-oriented projects. Taking Flight received $1000 to work on the project. 

“This is our main project we started this semester,” Tennenbaum told the News. “It is an interdisciplinary project and collaboration between the Yale Birding Student Association and the Yale Japanese Students Union on Campus. Cranes of Yale is a month-long program to promote Japanese culture and crane conservation worldwide.” 

The month-long event consisted of four main events: an origami crane workshop, a crane conservation workshop at the Peabody Museum, drop-in origami folding sessions at Bass Cafe and a scavenger hunt. 

Natsume Wu ’26, the secretary for the Japanese American Student Union, was the main coordinator and ran the origami workshops. Wu taught interested students about the Japanese origins of origami and demonstrated how to fold the paper cranes. 

“According to Japanese legend, if you fold 1000 cranes, you’re granted one wish,” Tennenbaum told the News. “Our wish is to bring birds back.” 

The team ended up making 1330 cranes that they hid on Sunday, April 20 across 27 different campus buildings for the scavenger hunt. The team also hid golden cranes, which are each worth 25 standard cranes. Cranes could be exchanged for prizes.

There were five teams competing in the scavenger hunt to win prizes donated by the International Crane Foundation, online courses donated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, binoculars donated by Wild Birds Unlimited and treats from Claire’s Corner Copia. 

Katie Fernald, wetland and rangeland ecologist for the International Crane Foundation, came to speak about crane conservation on April 15. She works in Texas on the wetland habitat of whooping cranes, working specifically with private landowners to create hospitable spaces to promote conservation of this species. 

Tennenbaum discussed the decline of birds worldwide, citing a 30 percent decline over the last 30 years. The project was a way for the three campus organizations to find a creative means to get people in touch with the natural world and exciting about birding again. 

“I feel that Cranes of Yale is so important in helping raise awareness about endangered birds and what role they play in our lives,” Zakariya Bouzid ’28, member of the Yale Birding Student Association, wrote to the News. “Engaging a bunch of people with a scavenger hunt is such an awesome way to show people both the cultural significance of cranes across the world and also expand the idea of birds and birding to a broader audience.” 

The International Crane Foundation is located at 11376 Shady Lane Rd., Baraboo, Wisconsin.