My Global & Environmental Identity
My passion for the environment originated in middle school, in which each person was tasked with writing, memorizing, and presenting a speech in front of the school on a topic they found interesting. I did not have one sole topic that I was distinctly keen on doing, so I compiled many topics into an extensive list, and somehow narrowed it down to plastic. As I delved into my research, I became compassionate for the animals who were being harmed due to plastic pollution. Following my speech, I began scouring my own home, searching for ways to reduce the plastic my family used. I also spent time educating my parents on the plastic they were buying.
After a hiatus, my friend and I decided to revive the Loomis Chaffee Climate Action Club. As I went on a trip to Scandinavia through the Alvord Center, I saw the way people regard the environment in a new light. In addition to this, I have been exposed to the environment from a scholastic standpoint, as I have taken CL Environmental Science and am currently in CL Literature of the Environment. Through the GEBG, I had the opportunity to facilitate interscholastic zooms where we took part in global student dialogue regarding the environment in relation to each of our schools and our own identities.
Though I have had a decent amount of exposure, there is still much more for me to do and learn. I love the outdoors - hiking, skiing, fishing, rock climbing, and camping. I also love animals. However, the environment is not solely what is in front of our eyes at this moment, it is also what is coming our way: climate change.
I want to enhance my understanding of environmental issues and make a difference in society. Gaining knowledge is part of the process, but what is crucial is actually taking action. My two main goals for GESC this year are to decrease my carbon footprint and to inspire others to be more conscious of the interconnectedness in the world we are living in.
Global & Environmental Resume
GESC-designated Courses
- World History
- Spanish IV
- Digital Photography I
- Civilizations that Changed the World
- CL Environmental Science
- Applied Economics
- History of Sports in Society
- CL Statistics
Elective Courses
- CL Literature of the Environment: Through this class, I have gained a deep appreciation for wellness, the natural world, and creative writing. While reading two very different books -Walden and Parable of the Sower - I was immersed into the environment through literature in two distinct ways. Before, when I would go out in nature, I would not bring anything with me; however, now, I always have my journal in my hands. In addition to this, I have truly evolved my passion for both the environment and writing.
GESC Experiential Education
Alvord Center Trip to Scandinavia (Denmark and Sweden): During my trip, I visited historical sites, met with local educators, and tasted new foods. The sustainability focus not only enhanced knowledge, but also allowed students to experience life in a more environmental friendly way. Copenhagen was, in fact, "bike town", as I have never seen so many people biking in one city before.
Other:
- Loomis Chaffee Climate Action (LCCA) Co-President: I, along with Lexi Barry, manage a 10 person leadership team. We have planned and executed numerous sustainable events, such as tea making, wreath making, beeswax wrap making, and flower making out of recycled materials. We have also met with representatives (such as the CT state representative, Garibay) followed by a visit to the CT Capital. On top of this, Lexi and I collaborated with a few different groups on campus including the LC Climate & Humanitarian Collective Club to host a documentary screening, PSO to fundraise for natural disasters, and the E-proctors for Ocean Plastic Awareness Month.
- GEBG Student Dialogs: I, along with LCCA leaders, collaborated with environmental proctors to facilitate interscholastic meetings. Starting off, we broke into small groups and shared each of our eco-identities. By the end of all the zooms, we were successful in discussing enduring environmental issues on top of the environmental action in place at each of our schools. It was a very thought-provoking experience and was satisfying to see the progression of our facilitations with each meeting.
Learning Artifacts
GESC Coursework
Assignment: Bullfighting Reflection
Class: History of Sports in Society
To preface this, my class watched a documentary on Bullfighting and were tasked on writing a reflection
Can something be neither right nor wrong?
In my personal opinion, bullfighting is archaic, primitive, and torture. I am filled with a combination of emotions - astonishment, sorrow, and nausea- as I watch the stabbing of an animal being followed by a sizable audience cheering out in exhilaration. Nowadays, many animals are going extinct - which saddens me in itself. As an animal lover, wrapping my head around the fact that a substantial amount of people are amused by the act of killing a living creature is perplexing and disheartening.
While I would not personally watch a bullfight, I can appreciate the fact that it is a longstanding tradition in Spain. Bullfighting is a sport that entails hours of practice, and individuals exert themselves physically primarily to perform in front of an audience and risk their lives to test their abilities. While I respect the amount of dedication and fearlessness involved in the matador, I don’t respect the continuation of the sport. I understand that the matador likely grew up in an area where bullfighting was normalized from an early age; after believing something for so long it is quite difficult to redirect that viewpoint. However, I do wonder why there are people outside of the Spanish culture who endorse this sport.
In addition to bullfighting, there are other sports today that involve the killing of an animal: hunting and fishing. While they are not ideal for the lives of the animals, I am not saddened by them to the same extent as bullfighting. The difference is that in hunting and fishing, the animal normally dies in a very short period of time if not immediately, whereas the suffering of the animal is dragged out solely for the purpose of entertainment in bullfighting. The audience is ecstatic as the blood drips out of the bull's body. Not only this, but there are more risks involved in bullfighting, such as the matadors' life. Some might argue that it is hypocritical for me to frown upon bullfighting to such a large extent since I do partake in fishing; however, the duration of the animal’s pain drives my opinion. In my fishing experience, the most amount of time a fish is living out of the water is about a minute (before they run out of oxygen and die or before they are released back into the water), whereas bullfights can be up to two and a half hours. On top of this, the bull is a warm blooded mammal with some intelligence, whereas fish have much smaller brains so they likely process their death in a different manner.
Although it clearly appears that my answer to the question “who is right and who is wrong” sways drastically in one direction, in actuality, my answer is not as drastic as it seems. Yes, I certainly do not enjoy watching bullfights, but I am not against people who are supporters. I understand that every single person has the right to their own opinion and with any decision comes influencing knowledge and other prior experiential factors. I am curious to hear the reasoning behind why people, in and out of Spain, do choose to watch or partake in bullfighting.
I can easily connect "Enhancing Understanding" and "Seek Knowledge" from the Alvord Center Matrix to my bullfighting assignment. In terms of enhancing understanding, I developed empathy for another perspective - the perspective of people in Spain. While Bullfighting may seem archaic to me, it is the norm to these people, and I realized that through deeply reflecting on the documentary. Through research, I delved into rules around the sport - something I had no prior knowledge of. In terms of seeking knowledge, I explored my own cultural and environmental identity through thinking about my fishing experiences and comparing that to bullfighting. By learning about about bullfighting in its entirety, I am curious to learn more about sports in other countries and their background. It also reminded me of the importance of being open-minded and the potential for viewpoints to shift - just as mine did regarding people who enjoyed bullfighting.
GESC Seminars
Post Seminar 2 Assignment: In the second seminar, GESC students visited the CT Museum of Culture and History. The field trip consisted of analyzing authentic scenarios through a variety of activities. I particularly found the activity - in which each group was assigned a suitcase filled with artifacts from immigrants and had to fill out a sheet answering questions - to be immersive. Doing a hands-on activity rather than solely reading or listening about it allowed me to grasp the information in a tangible way. Each activity shined a light on the hardships immigrants faced, some of which I did not think about too deeply prior to my visit. The leaders reiterated the range the reasons as to why people immigrate, as people often tend to hyper-focus on the main issues (work, education, conflict). Immigration is enduring today; it is interesting to compare immigration in two different time periods. Nowadays, in some states, volunteers are working with immigrants to help them get housing and jobs. However, immigrants did not have that support back then. In terms of the matrix, I thought the trip was a success in regards to developing empathy under the enhancing understanding category. I also thought we were able to seek knowledge by investigating how history, culture, and science shapes the modern world.
Post Seminar 4 Assignment: “Nourish My Soul is a nonprofit founded on the belief that food unites us all. It connects us to the Earth that provides cultures that are rich with stories, and human connection through a shared meal” (https://www.nourishmysoul.org/). AlaAlicia is the founder of Nourish My Soul; she facilitates numerous events and organizes opportunities to “take action.” First, Nourish My Soul has a farm that community members have free access to - not something one sees every day. They are actively enhancing knowledge through their program offerings - in person and online. Specifically, online “classes are offered from growing a garden, harvesting seeds, preserving food, new recipes, kids cooking classes, healthy lifestyle, group forums for connection, and so much more” (https://www.nourishmysoul.org/). On top of this, they are implementing environmentally focused positive change by providing leadership and volunteer opportunities to students while simultaneously boosting their food and sustainability knowledge. The team’s evident environmental focus is clearly shown through their redistribution of food from restaurants and grocery stores (that would go to a landfill without their help). Together, these methods inherently present solutions for the common good - especially Nourish My Soul selflessly offering up the food they worked hard to grow for free. AnaAlicia’s discussion sparked an interest in learning about food systems and farming, as the college that I am attending next year is in Vermont and has a farm. I hope to learn more about sustainable farming in my own time, before arriving on campus, and eventually be at the point where I can share my knowledge and hopefully learn new information as well. My recent DIY Beeswax Wrap Workshop event (displayed below) connects well to AnaAlicia’s discussion. Not only are these wraps reducing the use of plastic, but they also preserve the food for a longer period of time - decreasing food waste, like AnaAlicia. I learned how accessible hands-on opportunities pertaining to cooking sustainable food, such as the online cooking class Nourish My Soul offers, as well as how one experience can be a catalyst for future opportunities, demonstrated by the students who partook in the “From the Ground Up” project. This seminar certainly empowered me to seek knowledge - prompting me to reflect on my own cultural and environmental identity in terms of food. It also enhanced my understanding of food systems and the significance of sustainable growing practices.
Post Seminar #5 Assignment:
For my final seminar, I chose to attend the Evening of Science with Rob Stevenson. The event reinstated the fact that the majority of people are deeply disconnected from the natural world. Oftentimes people will overlook crucial aspects of nature; they won’t know what something is, yet, they will fail to put interest into figuring it out. In addition, the seminar made me recollect a piece of my CL Environmental Science class last year: there are, in fact, accessible ways to reconnect with the natural world. It may only take 5 seconds to use apps such as iNaturalist and Merlin Bird ID. I am empowered to learn how to identity more plants and birds- developing skills (in relation to the Alford Center Matrix).
GESC Related Activity
The photo above is from Lexi Barry (far right) and I's DIY Beeswax Wrap workshop for our Loomis Chaffee Climate Action club. Helen Lu (left in purple) is our director of Educational outreach and Aim Wanglee (left in pink) is one of our vice presidents. This was our second time partnering with Ms. Forrester for an event. The purpose of this workshop was to give Loomis students an wrap alternative in lieu of plastic. Not only are the beeswax one's more sustainable, but they also help to preserve the food for longer! Our workshop connects with "take action" and "develop skills" from the Alvord Center Matrix - as we are acting cooperatively to implement globally and environmentally focused positive change as well as seeking and identifying opportunities for collaboration.
GESC Experiential Education
Photo 1: My first photo was taken during a beautiful walk after a ferry ride over the North Sea to the island of Samso. Our walk-destination was a local family's home. It was a delicious farm to table meal, and it reinstated for me the idea of eating locally grown foods. It made me want to eat / create meals like this at home.
Photo 2: My second photo was taken after we crossed from Samso to the mainland of Denmark and Jutland Peninsula. At the Lego house in Billund, I learned about the sustainable Lego process - something I had neglected to consider prior to my visit. My visit sparked my interest in looking at the range of sustainability in other toys.
Photo 3: In the third photo, we explored a local farm. We learned about Samso's mission to be a global leader in terms of sustainability. I had not been to a farm in a long time, and I remember here that one of my friends discussed how she was planning to work on a farm later that summer. It was really interesting to learn about, and I realized that farming is something I would definitely want to partake in at some point in my life.
Capstone Project
Susuvi (Sustainable Vitality) & Sustainable Eating
Susuvi website link: https://susuvi.com/
Sustainable eating website link: https://sites.google.com/view/sustainableeatingsusuvi/home
Project rationale
Susuvi:
Oftentimes on road trips, my mom wants to stop at an organic restaurant whereas my sister wants to eat fast food. The majority of the nearby eating that pop up on searches on Yelp, Google and even other healthy restaurant sites for “organic restaurants” yield loads of “false positives”, with even McDonalds and Panera sometimes coming up in searches on those sites. While there are, in fact, healthy restaurants displayed at times, they are not always accessible. In order to incentivize people to eat organically, I thought that making a website tailored to organic restaurants would be helpful - with the intention of getting people better, curated results. Not only does this support local farms but it also lowers one's carbon footprint. I have been working on this website for a couple years now, and dedicated a portion of my GESC hours to furthering the site; however, the amount of hours that it would take to make a complete and polished site exceeds the allotted GESC hours, so Susuvi will continue to be a personal project for me.
In the meantime, I am pairing my work on Susuvi with a sustainable eating site in order to enhance knowledge pertaining to food sustainability and healthy eating in the Loomis community.
Sustainable eating:
I have always been someone who strives to prioritize my health and wellbeing - physically and mentally. I believe it is essential to make time for oneself even in challenging times, whether that is exercising, eating well, sleeping, or partaking in a de-stressing activity. I am passionate about spreading environmental awareness in all forms, and food is a crucial component. In addition, I have ran on the Loomis Chaffee Cross Country and Track and Field Team and have first-handedly seen how health and wellness are interdependent. A combination of these Loomis experiences inspired my sustainable eating website.
Target Audience
My Susuvi component will likely be in the works for the next couple years. My goal is to make it a website accessible to environmentally and/or organically-conscious users worldwide. Once it is complete, I am planning on providing the link to the Loomis community as well once in order to further premote environmental activism and sustainability on campus. With a 60% boarder population, Loomis has many visitors driving through CT one way or another at least once every year. So, my hope is that, when published, some parents will search my website rather than eating at an unsustainable option.
My sustainable eating website/ presentation component is targeted towards underclassmen in hopes that they will retain the information and further feel compelled to eat in a more sustainable manner themselves. On top of this, I hope they feel more inclined to join environmental groups in their next two years at Loomis.
Not only do these help people in general to be more sustainable, but they also help the planet; the more people eat locally and in a sustainable manner, the more their carbon footprint is reduced as well as their contribution to climate change.
Project Process
I have been working on Susuvi for a few years now. First, brainstorming and researching on how to make the website, and eventually putting forth my plan. To date I have manually uploaded over 1,000 restaurants and other venues that meet my criteria (including about half of Connecticut so far). The process has involved searching for restaurants and venues that mention “organic” using a web scraping tool (called Octoparse), and then actually going to the websites of each of the venues that come up in my search and looking at their descriptions, menus, etc. and seeing if I think they are good fit (most are not). Then after their name, website, location, phone number, etc. are all properly formatted in an excel file I created, I upload the results into my main website building program (called E-Directory) and then get them integrated into Susuvi (so if you assume say 5 - 10 minutes per venue x 1,000 venues, I’ve easily spent 100+ hours on just the content curation and uploading part of it).
One constraint is that I am limited as to how much I can change the layout / customize and what I put on the site. I’m not a techie and I have been using an inexpensive do-it-yourself website building program, and there are lots of limitations with that platform. However, after some tinkering, I was able to add some text at the top of the page so that people know what the site is about (curating a directory of organic / sustainable venues). I also decided to include some articles and included (towards the bottom of the first page) links to a few articles, in order to spread awareness about the site's significance.
Another constraint is that I have to limit marketing and growing the site until I can start charging restaurants to be listed to cover those costs (and restaurants aren’t likely to want to pay for listings or features until I have enough on here so that they think it is worthwhile, and it becomes a much more involved website if I have to start charging restaurants and dealing with payments and taxes, etc. before I am ready). I guess that is why people starting website businesses have to get lots of investors and raise money and hire lots of people.
For the sustainable eating site, the bulk of the time used for it's creation was research; however, I was able to intertwine some of my previous knowledge. For example, I realized that a book I read in my own free time was able to well connect to the project, so I added a component discussing that. Afterwards, I presented the site to Loomis dorms.
Project Reflection
I am proud of my final project and satisfied with the interest shown during my dorm events. I firmly believe that the students are genuinely interested, as I received a variety of questions/comments - expressing interest to join my climate action club and the GESC as well as follow ups about sustainability/sustainable eating. While I am a bit disappointed that Susuvi is not fully complete, I realize that it is a timely process and I have done a significant amount on it so far - hopeful that with the right amount of time it can be complete. My project connects to the developing skills component of the Alvord Center Matrix, as I have "taken action" - creating two websites and showcasing my projects to dorms on campus. Within that, I have acted cooperatively to implement globally and environmentally focused positive change. I have developed skills - specifically, adapting to new environments and challenges and seeking and identifying opportunities for collaboration. I see the adaptation piece first hand in looking at the website navigation process and the collaboration piece in speaking with Mr. Karrat and Ms. Matlack about how I could best spread awareness pertaining to sustainable eating in my community. I, myself, have grown as a global and environmental scholar in learning some new information about sustainable eating during the research process as well as gaining an appreciation for the timely process of creating a website. I envision the sustainable eating website link being spread around the Loomis Community, and my Susuvi website being spread in the future by not only the Loomis community, but also worldwide.
GESC Reflection
Since writing my statement of intent for the GESC, I have participated in numerous environmentally-focused events in my own time, have deepened my own appreciation for the natural world, and have taken 5 additional GESC credited classes. I have participated in GESC seminars and created two websites. Going into Loomis, I never expected to take a trip sponsored by the school, let alone the Scandinavia - where I simultaneously formed friendships and learned new information and skills. Through these experiences, I have most certainly grown as a global and environmental scholar at Loomis Chaffee, and I am looking forward to putting forth my knowledge at college next year and expanding upon it. The GESC truly pushed me to expand my horizons from a global and environmental lens, and I have already started looking for similar groups and opportunities at college next year. I hope the GESC continues to be popular amongst Loomis students, and I will definitely be eager to see how it evolves as well as the projects students produce in future years.