My Global & Environmental Identity
- Hello! My name is Rachael Budd. To me, several traits go into being a global and environmental citizen. I believe global studies originate with one's own identity and background. Each of my parents’ cultural heritage is a primary influence in my day-to-day life. I think of my family bonding over food, music, customs, and traditions as some of my most enjoyable occasions. From an environmental standpoint, it is important to be driven and have deep care for the beautiful world around us. My personal favorite places are Cape Cod and Vermont because of their natural surroundings and wildlife. Whether it’s swimming in the sea or fresh waters or hiking and skiing wooded trails, I have always felt a deep connection to nature in both these locations. While visiting these places, I develop a sense of comfort and typically return home with feelings of restoration and rejuvenation. After completing an ecological footprint calculator recently, I was astonished to see it would take 6 Earths for everyone to live as I do. Additionally, I couldn’t believe that my “Personal Earth Overshoot Day” is the 1st of March 2024, meaning that this March 1st is the day the Earth will no longer be capable of supporting my lifestyle. To be quite honest, I believe many people lead similar lives, utilizing the same resources and striving to be environmentally friendly. That being said, there is always more we can all do. Statistical perspectives like these have encouraged me to find ways to implement more sustainable daily habits and make my overall lifestyle much more green. Living in such an incredible, natural world, we must do all we can to protect and preserve it. I aim to apply the greater global and environmental understandings gained throughout the course to enhance awareness and collaboration on critical issues now faced in various regions of our world.
Global & Environmental Resume
GESC-designated Courses
- World History
- Advanced Seminar: History of the Present
- CL Environmental Science
- CL English IV: Literature and the Environment
- CL French V
- CL Economics
Elective
The Global Language Lab is a language learning community engagement program that is a part of The Loomis Chaffee School. Through the GLL, my group and I were able to support young, underprivileged students in rural China. We created online lessons and videos focusing on everyday English, that provided opportunities for the students to practice English. Through this experience, we helped bridge the language gap and gained a deeper understanding of the power of education in communities across the world.
GESC Experiential Education
The Loomis Chaffee School International Education Program: Marseille, France. This GESC experiential education trip focused on multiculturalism and world history. Visiting famous sites such as La Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, The Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean, Les îles de Marseille, Le Parc Nacional des Calanques, and Aix en Provence provided vital information about the history and past of France. Touring neighborhoods with a focus on immigration and communicating with members of the community was crucial to being immersed into Marseille's culture.
Learning Artifacts
GESC Coursework
Cape Cod, Massachusetts Climate Change Action Strategy ArcGIS StoryMap: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/944026a43d6245f8a63e753defcc236c
For my CL Environmental Science, I created a StoryMap on climate change in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. After conducting research, I developed an action strategy that aims to minimize the effects of climate change in this coastal region. This assignment encouraged me to analyze connections between local and global issues and examine local, global, and environmental trends, as included in the "Enhance Understanding" and "Seek Knowledge" sections of the Alvord Center's Engaged Citizenship Matrix. Additionally, I was able to "Develop Skills" and "Take Action" by applying a global and environmental lens to critical thinking and problem-solving exercises, seeking and identifying opportunities for collaboration, empowering action through research-driven projects, and creating innovative global and environmental solutions for the common good. Creating this ArcGIS StoryMap allowed me to create a solution for the local community that could drive positive change. I gained a deeper understanding of environmental challenges and learned how to effectively communicate my findings with others in hopes of inspiring them to take action.
GESC Seminars
Post-Seminar Reflection: Seminar #2 --- I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History in Hartford, Connecticut. I felt that this experience broadened and enhanced my understanding of what life was like in Hartford years ago. Toward the beginning of the time spent at the museum, I participated in a primary source workshop focused on the Puerto Rican community in Hartford and the challenges and issues that affected them during the 1950s-1970s. To list a few, there was a lack of Spanish churches, lack of housing, lack of job opportunities, socioeconomic challenges, lack of representation in officials, lack of access to education, voting rights issues, discrimination, and police brutality. One of the actions taken by Puerto Ricans to address these problems was hosting parades to celebrate identity and culture while also pointing out the issues and challenges faced by this specific group. These parades included short statements from representatives of the Puerto Rican community to further empower and unite Puerto Rican people. During the visit to the museum, we also acted out many different jobs that immigrants working in CT would take part in, such as tobacco farming, bricklaying, and working in textile mills. Through these activities, I was able to make connections between immigrants and their unique situations both locally and globally. This relates to the Alvord Center's Engaged Citizenship Matrix "Enhance Understanding" section as I developed empathy for other perspectives and analyzed, recognized, and evaluated difficulties faced and actions taken on the local and global levels.
Post-Seminar Reflection: Seminar #4 --- In GESC Seminar #4, AnaAlicia, founder of Nourish My Soul, spoke to us about her program and how those involved “take action” in a variety of ways. One of the programs’ ways to take action is to focus on younger generations, allowing kids to develop their own projects and be able to grow their own food. AnaAlicia addressed the common idea that kids don’t like to eat vegetables. However, she mentioned that when people grow their own food, they’re more likely to eat those foods! She hopes to have children learn the importance of healthy foods and how growing their own food can help both themselves and their community. Nourish My Soul presents solutions for the common good and implements focused positive change by giving people access to resources they need in order to survive. AnaAlicia mentioned that food is something everybody needs and because of that necessity, food can serve as a way for people to connect. After listening to AnaAlicia’s presentation, I’m inspired to learn more about the organization’s many youth programs and how each program empowers local communities through sustainable food systems. A connection I can make between what AnaAlicia discussed and my CL Environmental Science class is the importance of not only knowing where my food came from but also what happens if not all of it is consumed. Food waste is a recurring issue and the importance of composting is crucial. This event encouraged me to explore my environmental identity, investigate how history, culture, and science shape the modern world, and examine local, global, and environmental trends, as the “Seek Knowledge” section of the Alvord Center's Engaged Citizenship Matrix emphasizes.
Post-Seminar Reflection: Seminar #5 --- I chose to attend the Coffee with Colleagues on-campus Alvord Center co-sponsored event for GESC Seminar #5. This event took place in the Loomis Chaffee Kravis Center during Earth Month in April. The focus was on the environmental impact of artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT. From the discussion, I learned that a few of the environmental effects of AI are as follows: water for data center cooling, energy needed to facilitate the data center - to generate responses quickly - most of this energy coming from fossil fuels (greenhouse gases, CO2), land usage by data centers - specific areas of land being used, and mining/manufacture. I was also informed that there are 400 million weekly users of AI worldwide, and data centers use 2% of the worldwide energy. Cloud-based computing, cryptocurrency, and AI data storage all use data centers. Following this seminar, I’m inspired to learn about the progression of artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT and how they may improve or become more energy efficient in the future. Through this Coffee with Colleagues session, I was able to engage in civil discourse to raise awareness and promote understanding, empower action through research-driven projects, create innovative global and environmental solutions for the common good, and act cooperatively to implement globally and environmentally focused positive change, which are all a part of the “Take Action” section of the Alvord Center’s Engaged Citizenship Matrix.
GESC Electives
Traveling to Barcelona, Spain, allowed me to acquire knowledge of a country, city, and culture all brand new to me. For example, while there, I visited the many renowned works of architecture created by Antoni Gaudí. Growing up speaking Spanish, I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to practice my skills as well. Navigating the Barcelona streets and Metro, as well as locating great spots for delicious Catalan cuisine, helped me immerse into the wonderful Spanish city and connect with its people. Tying into with the Alvord Center's Engaged Citizenship Matrix, the overall experience prompted me to "Seek Knowledge" by exploring my cultural identity and investigating how history, culture, and science shape our modern world. Examination of local, global, and environmental trends were other key aspects of the visit. Additionally, I was able to "Develop Skills" by adapting to new environments and challenges and expanding active listening, open communication, and self-reflection techniques.
GESC Experiential Education
Capstone Project
Project Title: Multilingual Children's Storybook
Project Rationale
The topic of immigration is very relevant to the present day, and our interest in this area was sparked by the GESC trip to the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, where we studied immigration and the challenges immigrants encountered when building a future for their families. Following our enhanced understanding of this topic, we hope to give back to the community and educate those around us about immigrant families, since their voices can often be overlooked. This project also relates to the school theme of storytelling, which is a powerful way to spread awareness and build community.
Target Audience
This project is designed to be accessible to people of all ages. The storybook is written in English, Spanish, French, and Chinese, which are among the top 5 most spoken languages in the world. This was done in hopes of expanding the available audience of the picture book to as many individuals as possible. There is a mix of visuals and texts because often illustrations can tell more of a story than words. Allowing many people of different ages who speak varying languages to read our story raises greater awareness about immigration.
Project Process
To pursue and complete this project, the process began with research. Research about the history of immigration, research on the specific situation or story we wanted to write, and research on other children’s immigration books. In working with specific Loomis Chaffee teachers, the storyline of the children’s book was created and finalized in English, then translated into the other three languages (Spanish, French, and Chinese). A challenge faced along the way was finding an illustrator to draw the visual designs for the picture book. After reaching out to classmates, friends, and the Loomis Chaffee Art department, we eventually found an illustrator who was interested in this project! The final step of the process was putting together the text with the pictures and ensuring the book was neat and presentable.
Project Reflection
I am very proud of the final product created, the storybook, and feel that it accomplished the goal of focusing on both immigration and language. With the original outline question being “How can we educate our community on immigrant families?”, this picture book is accessible to a wide range of audiences, informing many people about immigration, even young children who are not able to read difficult texts well. Alvord Center Engaged Citizenship Matrix learning outcomes that are addressed through our project are “Take Action” and “Enhance Understanding”. We engaged in civil discourse to raise awareness and promote understanding, questioned prevailing assumptions, analyzed connections between local and global issues, recognized and evaluated local and global implications of individual and shared actions, and developed empathy for other perspectives. This project helped me grow as a global and environmental scholar by deepening my understanding of the experiences and situations immigrant families encounter. I thought deeply about representation and equity throughout the creation of this novel. I also realized the importance of storytelling and how it is such a powerful tool for education and advocacy. After sharing this story with the Spanish, French, and Chinese teachers at Loomis Chaffee, I received positive feedback. They all seemed to have really enjoyed reading the novel and were impressed with the result of our dedicated work! In the future, I envision this project being shared and discussed between students and faculty, while positively impacting the community as a whole by informing them on the topic of immigration.
GESC Reflection
I am very grateful for the opportunity to have participated in the Loomis Chaffee GESC program, and I believe I have grown as a global and environmental scholar in a multitude of ways. Through educational experiences, I have studied differing cultures and traditions around the world. Understanding what made each location unique and special in comparison to the rest of the globe was certainly a highlight. Through the many seminars, I learned how people in our local community assist others. The seminars encouraged me to take initiative and make efforts to support those around me in varying ways. I was inspired to an even greater extent, to the point where I made sure that one of the main focuses of my Capstone Project was helping the community, specifically through education. I was inspired to an even greater extent, so much so that I made sure a focus of my Capstone Project was helping the community, specifically through education. This was an action I took that will hopefully produce beneficial results over time. Through my coursework, I recognized how I, as a student, along with my fellow peers, can be educated and informed as the next generation to ultimately strive for positive change in this world. For my GESC Capstone Project, I was able to become a teacher and inform others about what I learned as a student. The Loomis Chaffee GESC program gave me the chance to be both.