Adrienne Hodson Loomis Chaffee GESC
My Global & Environmental Identity
My name is Adrienne and I live in Avon, CT. I have grown up and spent my life thus far in Connecticut and the greater New England area. My mother’s side of the family has long familial connections to southern Maine, and my father’s family resides in Indiana and the mid-west area of America. Additionally, I have been lucky enough to travel to many states in the US, and spend time in parts of Europe. Despite the opportunities I have had to experience different parts of our world, before beginning my time at Loomis Chaffee I was wholly unaware of my carbon footprint and the effects it could have in a global sense. I have always taken interest in global studies, pursuing french classes throughout middle school and high school, and taking European history in addition to other globally focused courses since coming to Loomis. Yet, as an environmental citizen, the strides Loomis takes to create a sustainable campus has opened my eyes to the importance and complexity of eco-friendly living. I hope to continue my studies of the vastly different continents on our planet and expose myself to the francophone world after I leave the Island. Additionally, as a part of the Global and Environmental studies group at Loomis, I want to make even greater contributions to our beautiful campus with my capstone project that will continue to foster environmental sustainability in the future.
Global & Environmental Resume
GESC-designated Courses
- World History: Systems of Justice and Injustice
- CL European History
- CL History Sem: Topics in Modern East Asian History
- Hinduism and Buddhism
- Ceramics 1
- CL English IV: Literature and the Environment
- CL French V
Elective Courses: CL French V
- This course focuses on the study of Francophone countries and the exploration of major French literature, film, and global issues faced by French speaking countries. Taking this course has allowed me to master my use of French grammar, and diction, while also fluently expressing ideas regarding political and social events in France. Additionally, comparing currents events such as women's rights and worker strikes taking place in France and the US, I have been able to fine tune my writing skills, to express the differences and similarities between the countries.
GESC Experiential Education: Italy International Education Program
This past June, I was lucky enough to spend ten days in Italy, more than half of the trip was spent on the island of Sardinia, and the last few days were in Rome. As a group, other Loomis students and myself learned about the Blue Zones on Sardinia and the sustainability of the island's food increasing the longevity of citizens lives. Having spent over a week in Italy, I was able to further understand the health behind Italian nutrients and how the United States differs in their food collection and resources. Additionally, ending our trip in Rome provided me with ancient Roman history, and connected my previous knowledge of European history with the major monuments our group toured.
Learning Artifacts
GESC Coursework
- Dispatches from the Future, LC 2150. An assignment I completed in my Literature and the Environment class, we were tasked with writing proposals, journal entries, or accounts of what Loomis Chaffee would be in the year 2150. Not only a problem solving scenario, but also an evaluative assignment, I created an image of what a solar power run field-house would look like located near the meadows. I evaluated what our campus looks like as of now and tried to develop and write an announcement of the opening of the field-house keeping in mind the climate and environment of the future.
GESC Seminars
- Seminar #2: This second seminar that we participated in as members of the GESC allowed us to better understand CT’s, my state’s, immigrant population. Although I was subconsciously aware that there was an immigrant population in the state, I was unaware of the many resources that they have available to them, in addition to the many challenges they face traveling to a new country, particularly a state as small as CT. It is more commonly discussed to immigrate to a larger state, or even a largely populated area, like New York or Boston, and because of this seminar, I was able to broaden my understanding of the many immigrants, from a plethora of countries, that have had successes, and challenges in CT. In the Alvord Center Matrix, the Enhanced Understanding section prioritizes developing empathy for other perspectives. After completing the pre-seminar assignment, I was beginning to understand the experience of immigrants better, yet completing my own research about Mexican immigrants in CT has truly bettered my perspective of the immigration process, and allowed me to empathize with the hurtles new immigrants face when entering the country, particularly the North East.
- GESC Seminar #4: The seminar I attended with presenter Mahinalani Cavalieri was not only educational but also engaging. I had not heard about boating excursions of Cavalieri's kind before her presentation and I was able to learn more about the opportunities citizens who reside in Hawaii have. After hearing about her trips I can now reflect on the environmental action she took to better utilize the skills she learned as a teenager. By taking part in sailing excursions, Cavalieri applied her love of sea voyages and pushed herself to discover more of the ocean and educate herself on nautical processes aboard a deep sea ship. Furthermore, from Cavalieri's experiential work in Hawaii that she is a part of now, she is using the skills she learned in her 20s to help educate the underprivileged and push the youth of her island to take advantage of their land and tropical resources. She is raising awareness by speaking to students like us who do not reside in Hawaii, and promoting engagement with other cultural traditions such as she did during her deep sea voyage and continues to do as a teacher. Because of her discussion with us as GESC students I am curious to learn more about the original ways of sailing utilizing constellations to guide the ship, a tactic Cavalieri shared during her presentation.
GESC Electives
GESC Experiential Education
Capstone Project
Sustainable Dorm Snack in Upperclassmen Girl's Dorms
A recap and description of our entire project can be found here!
Project rationale
Dorm snack is a big part of living with your peers and residing in a dorm, so having healthy and sustainable options at least once every few weeks is important. Our capstone group wanted to bring a little bit of the blue zones from Sardinia back to Loomis to implement a healthy way of living and snacking.
Target Audience
Our group focused on Howe and Palmer to upperclassmen girls dorms, but are excited and hopeful that the project will be continued in underclassmen dorms as a form of bonding. It is necessary for students of all grade levels to get out of their rooms at the end of the day and socialize with people outside of their immediate friend circle. Having a communal activity allows for this to happen and using local products can intrigue more people.
Project Process
When starting, we were unsure of the scope of our project and had to decide what parts of the Loomis community we wanted to impact. After deciding it was best to start with upperclassmen girls dorms, places and people we were familiar with, we needed to decide what food we could have the students cook that would be both healthy, locally sourced, and exciting. Completing this project in the winter posed some challenges though as we had trouble finding fresh products. Given the limited local food we were able to find from sustainable sources, we finally made a connection with a local dairy farm and were able to use their eggs, as well as purchasing milk and cheese from a local but larger East Coast based farm. After we sorted out that small hurtle we were able to have our project underway and visit both Howe and Palmer to host fun and interactive dorm snack cooking. During those nights we also made it a point to educate our peers on the source on the food and even curated a website encapsulating our entire project as a space for all Loomis Chaffee members to visit.
Visual Interests
Project Reflection
After completing our two cooking and interactive sessions I am feeling happy about our project. We were able to meet with the dorm life committee to encourage them to keep this project afloat even after we graduate this year and they seemed enthused. Even if the impact of our project is using more sustainable ingredients once every month I think it will be a good reminder to our community to take advantage of the fresh products we are lucky enough to have around us. Our dorm snack not only promotes students on campus to learn about the benefit of locally sourced products but it focuses on taking action, a key pillar of the Alvord Center. We learned about Blue Zones in Italy and were able to take action, albeit in a smaller setting, to promote the foundation for longevity in Windsor. This project pushed me to understand the complexity of owning and running a farm or environmentally friendly business. Although healthy foods and meals are optimal they are not always accessible to everyone and I am now able to understand the work that is put into growing veggies and fruits and raising animals sustainably. Even though it is difficult and at times unachievable, I now have tasted and located the fresh produce in my area and encouraged other Loomis students, who do not live in CT, to do the same. I hope that the dorm life faculty will be able to continue our project in the future and tweak it to fit the school's busy lifestyle. It does not always have to be interactive and sustainable, it can be one or the other, but our end goal was to get students out of their rooms and eat a dorm snack different and more health conscious than normal which I feel came across clearly during our events.
GESC Reflection
My statement of intent, written as a junior at Loomis, highlights all of the benefits of being a member of the GESC community. Indeed, when my statement was written I was anxious about taking a trip with the Alvord Center, that opportunity has been one of my favorite memories from my time at Loomis. Yes, the ten day trip did push my boundaries and made me somewhat of a more adventurous person, but more importantly, it expanded my knowledge of what healthy food really is. As American's we think of healthy food as being a salad, or grain bowl, or fresh berries, but what the island of Sardinia showed me is that healthy food is not about what the product is but where the food has come from. Aside from my growth after the experiential education, the classes I took because of this program were unique. English and history term courses along with my yearlong french class provided me with a wide variety of subjects. As expressed in my statement I knew some of the classes would be difficult but what I did not account for was the enjoyment I would have in the course making the work lighter. Finally, I do not think I can express it better than I did last year, that, my senior capstone was a fabulous way to finish out my time at Loomis. Not only was it cumulative of my participation in the GESC program but it was also a special project that I was able to complete with my peers as we finish out our last year at Loomis.