Sofia Rincon Loomis Chaffee GESC

My Global & Environmental Identity

I'm Sofia Rincon, a day student from Glastonbury, CT. My mom's from Colombia, and my dad was born in New York yet grew up in various places in the world, his parents also being from Colombia. I have one older brother, named Alejandro. Although I've lived in Glastonbury my whole life, I am lucky that my parents love to travel. Our adventures have taken us to many places, with Portugal, Indonesia, Thailand and Peru being my favorites. We're an outdoorsy family, enjoying hikes, bike rides, kayaking, sports and camping. But the best part of traveling, for me, is trying new foods. Despite all these exciting trips, I find peace in Glastonbury, especially when gazing at the stars from my garage roof or hiking a nearby trail with a perfect view of Hartford. All these experiences have deepened my love for nature and its role in our lives. This love for nature motivates me to learn more about the world and use that knowledge to make a positive impact, whether locally or globally. In GESC this year, I want to understand more about the connections between culture, the environment, and global citizenship. I hope to become an advocate for sustainability and diversity, and to learn how to make a difference in our world.

Global & Environmental Resume

GESC-designated Courses

CL Environmental Science
World History
Ceramics
Graphic Design & Digital Art
Religious Diversity in Contemporary America

Elective Courses

My 6th elective course is Spanish V. In this class we learn a lot about the history of Latin American countries and how the United States interfered in their government and how the effects are still seen today. We also learn about the indigenous life in these countries and the disparities they face.

GESC Experiential Education: Northeast Kingdom & Connecticut River Trip

The purpose of this trip was to focus on a sense of place created by the river and the importance and impact of the river. Additionally we learned about the Abenaki people to consider an indigenous view of environmental efforts. This trip helped me learn more about myself and grow a deeper appreciation for nature.

Learning Artifacts

GESC Coursework

This assignments objective was to highlight a specific global issue in a country and use our digital art skills to represent that to spell "Loomis". This resonated with me because I chose government corruption in Colombia. Through this assignment not only did I learn some digital art skills but I also learned a lot about the corruption in my ancestral homeland and used my art to express it and perhaps even educate others on the topic.

Digital Art & Graphic Design

GESC Seminars

Islamic institutions: I learned a lot about the large population of Islamic residents in Connecticut and loved learning about how they support one another. This trip has impacted my work as a Global and Environmental scholar by enhancing my understanding of the Islamic community and how significant the language barrier can be for them. The negative way the media has portrayed Muslims has caused ignorance in the US that causes lack of opportunities for these families. By going on this trip I was able to learn more about their culture and how wrong these stereotypes were. I learned how easy it is to support these groups through volunteer work and how I was able to share my privileged experiences with them so they could be best prepared for when they start their college search. I’d like to learn more about their food drive and possibly participate in it in the future because it seemed to be a successful method in getting involved with the whole community of hartford for them and was something they cherished. I would also like to learn more about their culture and beliefs. I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet these young and brave girls on their educational journey in the US.

Seminar #4: The featured guest was the author of a book named “Glitter”. This book was in a way defending glitter, as it was experiencing a lot of backlash from as she described them “negative activists”. These environmentalists said that glitter was an abomination and extremely bad for the planet. I learned that glitter is only responsible for roughly 1-2% of the plastic in the world and that in reality it isn’t in comparison as large of a deal for the planet. She spoke about changing the strategy for environmentalism and to not be so extreme, “the world is ending” attitude. We learned of glitter being used in feminist protests due to its visibility, stickiness and long lasting impact because it is so hard to remove. This really stood out to me because I think it is a really good non aggressive way to protest something. Additionally we talked a lot about queerness in nature and how people are trying to change the stereotypes of environmentalists. This seminar inspired me to learn more about these simple little everyday plastics that I can avoid using or buy more environmentally friendly versions since glitter would never have crossed my mind as plastic. Another question I have is: How can we make people actually understand the importance of climate change without scaring them to the point of denial which is something we see a lot?

GESC Electives

This photo is of my peer mentee group completing their freshman orientation scavenger hunt. These events are impactful to me because I get to see kids grow and come out of their shell as they meet new people and find their place in the Loomis community.

GESC Experiential Education

This moment was very memorable to me on our canoeing journey. It was one of our longest trips and some groups kept falling behind because we were so tired. This moment was captured while we stopped by the shore to refuel with a snack and wait for our other group members to catch up. This day was especially challenging and took hardwork and good collaboration with the other person in the canoe to move efficiently.

This moment is when we visited an elderly women who is native american. She talked a lot about her relationship to land and how she is a strong advocate for taking back the land that was unjustly stolen from her ancenters. She talked a lot about this continuous battle with her culture and modern society while also clearing up some of the stereotypes that we have.

This day we mountain biked through a trail in vermont. It was one of my favorite memories because it was both challenging and very fun! Although the weather wasn't great everyone kept a positive attitude and enjoyed this moment before we set on the canoe back home.

Capstone Project

Food Insecurity

The goal of our project was to educate ourselves and the Loomis community about what food insecurity is. I think a lot of people don't realize that food insecurity and hunger aren't the same thing. We aimed to show that it is prevalent everywhere including in all parts of CT. Additionally we wanted to show how Loomis students can help the Windsor community by providing information and contact with the Windsor Food and Fuel bank.

Target Audience

Our project worked specifically with the Windsor Food and Fuel bank and the Loomis Community. Our goal was to spread awareness on food insecurity in Windsor and show students how they can make a difference in combating this issue.

Project Process

We started by educating ourselves on food insecurity and met with Connecticut Food share via zoom. CT Food Share is Connecticuts Food bank with over 650 food pantries. We made posters based on the information we learned and put it up around the school to spread awareness on the severity of the issue. We then went to the Windsor food bank where we got a tour of the facility and learned about all the programs and work that they do in the community. There is when we chose to work with the weekend wheels program that specializes with students, helping families that rely on school lunches and don't have that resource on the weekends. We created posters baseA major challenge we faced was finding time with the food bank and our busy schedules as student athletes to hold our event. There was a lot of trial and error and meetings with faculty to figure out where and when we could schedule everything. In the end we were able to hold our speaker and goodie bag packing event where students could put up to five of the different snack items provided then make a small note to add to the bag for the kids, all in one event and was a huge success!

Visual Interests

Project Reflection (To be written upon conclusion of your Capstone, 250-300 words)

I am super happy with my project and the amount of people that attended the event. Madison and I have learned so much about food insecurity and used that to educate others at our school. We then took it a step further and took action recognizing our privilege and using it to help others. I hope our event inspired others to continue with the connection between Loomis and the Windsor food bank to help others in our community in the future.

GESC Reflection

My goals that I had written in my statement of intent was to better my understanding of the world while also being actively engaged in the community, I hoped to make a difference in the Loomis community. I believe I have achieved my goals this year with my project. I grew a lot and have a much better understanding of food insecurity and the negative implications it can have on ones physical and mental health. I also learned how food insecurity is a problem everywhere including in places that I wouldn't expect like my hometown of Glastonbury CT with a 6.4% of food insecurity and an 8.7% in Greenwich CT. I believe our posters and event positively influenced the community by spreading awareness and showing how helping the community in an easy and fun activity can be done by anyone. I also beleive that by bringing a speaker from the Windsor Food and Fuel bank strengthened our communities connection with them and opened possibilities with more teamwork in the future.