November 17th, 2016: Stephen McAndrew and the Emergency International Red Cross

Stephen McAndrew was a fabulous speaker and I was really appreciative of the opportunity to hear him speak. As a student who's going through the college application process, I was very surprised and relieved to hear that he had no intentions of working in the Red Cross. I was inspired by the fact he didn't have a set path and just started volunteering with the Red Cross to do something good for humankind. I was moved by his compassion and empathy. Mr. McAndrew really helped to bring to light very serious issues that we have had in our world regarding the refugee and Ebola crisis. Despite such solemn topics, Mr.McAndrew was able to bring some humor and joy into the room. His message of unity was really prominent to me. I now believe that unity in times of trouble rather than disconnect is the answer. I was so glad to listen to such an international superstar who has interacted with a huge variety of cultures. 

November 9th, 2016: Lunch with Nirayama High School Students

Japanese students visited Poly from Nirayama High School and I got the exciting chance to eat lunch and converse with these students for a short while. I was really happy to talk to these students that really were also excited to share their culture with us. They tried to help us pronounce their names right and also tried to teach us some fun Japanese words. Although I can't even remember any of the words they tried to teach us, I really appreciated their efforts. We had Nirayama's Cheer Leader sitting at our table and he explained the significance of his armband to us. It has their school logo which are the horns of a dragon because the translation of their high school in English has the word Dragon. We watched him tie his red wraps as seen in the picture which seemed really complicated. He was very excited to perform for us and we couldn't wait to see our new friend lead his fellow students. They sang us their school song and we were quite impressed and gossiped about wanting our own school song. I really loved getting to hear about their experiences at their school and definitely wished I had the space to host a student! I can't wait for our next group of exchange students to come visit. :)

October 12th, 2016: Celebrating the Universal Language of Fútbol

Pelé's Famous Bicycle Kick

This past Wednesday, I had the fortunate opportunity to join a viewing of Pelé: The Birth of a Legend (2016) with one of the producers of the film. I was never much of a soccer player myself, but I was captivated by Pelé's story and skills. The movie transported us to Brazil and took us through the same journey that the Brazilians experienced with their World Cups. I was really able to connect with the movie and feel the sorrows when the Brazilians lost their 1950 world cup. This connection at the beginning of the movie allowed me to embark on a journey with the characters and be more invested in Pelé's success. When the Brazilians went to the 1958 World Cup with Pelé, it was fascinating to see how soccer was the universal language that all these different countries spoke. Whether you speak German, Spanish, or French, you can appreciate a great soccer player like Pelé.

October 9th, 2016: A Day at the Races

Brunch at Frontrunner's

Waiting for the horses!

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to go the horse races at Santa Anita racetrack with our exchange student from Italy, Caterina. The other GIP students were Charlie, Maya, and Katie. We asked her a lot of questions on the way there and the most popular one was if she has seen horse racing before. She mentioned that she has seen a little bit with her host family because they own some horses. Caterina was excited to see the races because they didn't have anything like it in Italy. Once we got our tickets and entered into the track, the racehorses were all parading around in a circle for the potential betters. We got to get up close and personal with the horses. We were particularly shocked by just how small the jockeys were! As the racehorses approached the track, we moved towards our seats before the races started. The horses were all being filed into the gate when we arrived so we stood right up next to the railing for the best view of the race. After we consulted our programs, we got excited and practically were leaning over the railing to see the horses race past us. As the horses raced past for the first time, we noticed an ambulance flying behind them. We wondered if the ambulance was for the horses or the jockeys; either way, we decided we would love to have that job. Since we saw our first race up close and personal to the horses we decided to go up to the 5th floor to have brunch at the FrontRunner restaurant. The FrontRunner had all glass on the same side as the racetrack so it was a picture-perfect view for brunch. While at brunch, we were able to do a lot of people watching and see how enthusiastic and passionate some people got about the races, some were full out yelling in the hopes their horse would win. Astonished by the passionate yells, we decided to join in and we passed the program around the table choosing our own horses for the next race. We were disappointed when none of our horses won and resumed our brunch conversation. We learned a lot about Caterina. One of the most interesting facts is that they have to go to high school for 5 years! We couldn't even imagine having another year after this one. Caterina constantly would slip into Italian and would apologize because she was so used to speaking with her friends. As Global Scholars, we were really intrigued about how Caterina got the opportunity to come here through AFS. Apparently, she made a list of the top 10 countries she wanted to go to through AFS. The US was her top choice and some of the others included South Africa and Russia. I really admired her because it's a very bold decision to choose to take a year abroad. As the afternoon heat settled in, we decided it was a good time to leave. Yet just as we were leaving, we ran into Coach Beerman! Coach Beerman told us he had just arrived at the races. He mentioned that he owns a few race horses and was here today to see some of his trainer's horses compete. Overall, it was a great day and I loved spending time to get to know Caterina better and can't wait for this upcoming year.

September 15th, 2016: Capstone Project Update

One of the ranch dogs in Baja

After some meetings with Ms. Diederich and Mrs. Ramirez, I have a clearer idea of my capstone project. As you may or may not have previously read, I had an amazing time in Baja and learned a lot about sustainability and ranchero culture. For my Capstone Project, I decided to focus on the how having a symbiotic relationship with animals promotes sustainability. In order to preserve the practice of sustainability, it is essential that we maintain a balance with animals. We have to have a symbiotic relationship, which means that both parties are getting something and one isn't just exploiting the other. I want to share this information with students in either the Middle or Lower school because it is important to plant seeds about ideas of sustainability early on. I want to show them that they have the key to sustainability: believing you are a part of the natural system not above it.

September 12th, 2016: The First GIP Event of the Year

A Nicaraguan kid who a Poly student formed a relationship with

After a wonderful summer of unforgettable experiences abroad, it was hard to come back to the lackluster routine of school. Thankfully, I got to escape the routine to present to my peers and their parents my experiences in Baja. Our first Global Initiatives Program gathering was a presentation by students from all four GIP trips on how their perspective on the respective country they visited was changed.  I was really fascinated with how the students on the Nicaragua trip forged unforgettable relationships with kids despite having a language barrier. The students presenting on Nicaragua also created a video which provided that allowed us to peek into what they called an indescribable and unforgettable experience. Next, the stage was given to the Cuba students. The Cuba students really did an effective job at sharing how their views on the effects of communism were 

Group of Poly students in Cuba

changed. I was really enlightened by their presentations which showed how important art and the media were in their influence of politics. One student shared an anecdote that was particularly touching to me. He noted that after a long day's worth of walking he just wanted to find a spot to sit down and rest his legs. He found a nice shady spot up against the side of a building, only to find his rest interrupted by a policeman asking him to stand up because he was disrespecting the people which the building honored. I found this really striking because it is completely different in our own country.  After the 

The Baja trip students and I (far left) holding the puppies from the ranch

Cuba students showed us our misconceptions about Cuba, the Baja students came up and we shared our personal anecdotes about the Baja trip. You can see my previous blog post for more specific details on the Baja trip. I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to share my experiences with a group. I was really excited about to find out the Baja trip will be offered next year. My contribution to the group presentation was a small blurb on surfing and shamanism. Finally, came the very powerful presentation from the Cambodia and Vietnam students. I was left in shock hearing about the places they visited and the people they met. From visiting the killing fields to the breathtaking Angkor Wat,

Photo of Angkor Wat taken by a Poly student

 I was amazed at the incredible and powerful things they were able to experience. The Cambodian students presented in multiple mediums and one of the students wrote four very powerful poems based off of pictures that his peers took. These poems were then followed by some very artistic films created by students of the trip. I was impressed with the various ways the students were able to communicate their experiences to us. Overall, I was very grateful to have the opportunity to share my global experiences and hear about the global experiences of my friends. I was happy to be a part of the first GIP event of the year and I can't wait for the many more events to come. 

June 13-23 2016: GIP Trip to Baja

I just recently got back from an amazing trip in Baja California del Sur in Mexico. This was our blog while we were there. We spent ten days in various places like La Paz, Todos Santos, and La Isla Espíritu Santo. I got the opportunity to learn, do charity work, share experiences, get my breath taken away, be part of a community, and have some truly delicious food. While I was away in paradise I kept a journal of my experiences throughout the ten days to be able to share with my readers!

Day 1:

Erica, Kara, and I at the water springs

I woke up bright and early to meet the Baja group at LAX. We all checked in with our chaperones Dr. Stogdill and Ms. Larios. We double and TRIPLE checked that we had our passports because we were so scared we might have left them at home and would have to go back. I was eagerly awaiting our plane's arrival in Baja the entire trip which made the couple hour plane ride feel like an eternity. Once we got to the airport in Cabo, I bounded off the plane, luggage in hand, and was greeted by the overly humid outside air.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to hop right into an air condition van as it appeared our guides were late to picking us up because our flight got in earlier than expected. Once we were picked up, we began our journey to the ranch. The car ride was filled with lots of singing and admiring the country road we were traveling on. When we pulled up to the ranch we were greeted by an entourage of a cow, a horse and it's foal, and some goats at the gate. I was really excited to see that their animals were allowed to just roam around their ranch which was really different compared to many ranches I had seen in the US. There were mango trees everywhere and we ended up setting our camp up under the trees which provide a huge amount of shade which was vital in the area. After camp was set up we ate dinner and decide to go on a hike to some water springs. We hiked through the brush of their ranch to some water springs with a miniature waterfall. It was very deserted and preserved and if you stood still long enough in the water some fishies would swim up and eat the dead skin cells of your feet. When we finally got back to the camp, it was dark and we set up a campfire even though it was really hot out. We sat around the fire and listened to Rogelio, the ranch owner, tell the history of the ranch in Spanish and how it was passed down through his family. I retired to my tent before the fire gathering was done because I was exhausted from the travels.

Day 2:

The Rock Paradise We Hiked To

The night of sleep I had was out of the ordinary because the night was filled with the competing sounds of animals from birds to barking dogs and cows. We began to help Rogelio and his father with the preparation of the palm leaves for the palapa that we were helping them build. I got the job with Erica of wetting the palm fronds. We basically had to continuously splash water on the palms while they were arranged in a circular pattern that made it easier to grab them when stacking them on the roof. The reason the palms had to be wetted for an hour is because it made the fibers more pliable and thus easier to weave for the roof. We traded out with another pair and rested in one of the many hammocks around the ranch. We snacked on some fresh passion fruit. Next, we prepped the palms to get tied to the roof. I got to use a real antler to stab holes in the frond and then we would use another plant and string it through so you could tie the plant to the wooden beams. While we were poking holes and threading the palms another one of the guys from the ranch was trimming the palm fronds to give to us. As he was trimming the palms, he found a scorpion and swiftly brought his machete down on the tail of the scorpion to chop off the stinger. He then proceeded to pick it up and show us the stingerless scorpion. We got to see the puppies that they had on the ranch and they were really adorable. They were raised by their mother in a den-like space and are frequently used as hunting animals for the ranch hands. It was really cool to see the different uses that dogs had on their ranch. After a morning of work, we decided to take a break and they told us we were going to drive and then hike to this big swimming pool. Yet no description could prepare us for the beauty we were going to encounter at the end of our hike. We climbed over some rocks and a paradise unfolded in front of us. It was a huge swimming hole with rock surrounding the entire thing high up into the sky. The only way into the swimming hole was to jump in off a pretty decent cliff. The only way out was to climb up using a rope. There were waterfalls on the backside that spilled into tiny smaller pools up on the rocks. It was amazing and we wasted the rest of the afternoon swimming and playing there. We then fell soundly asleep after an exhausting day.

Day 3:
We woke up in the morning and returned to our work on the palapa. They were building the palapa so they could have another larger outdoor kitchen for them to cook in and have dinner under especially when big groups like us came. We continued to thread until our hands were dirty and well worked. Next Dr.Stogdill, Tom, Cali, and I got the opportunity to learn how to make delicious salsa from Rogelio's mom. It was a great experience to have a cooking lesson in Spanish and it proved that food can really be a universal language. I wrote down the recipe for the salsa because it was so fresh and tasty that I wanted to remember it.
The recipe is as follows:
Need:
2 cloves of garlic
1 roasted red tomato
8 serrano chile peppers
salt
Recipe:
1. Roast a tomato and the 8 chiles over a fire until softened.
2. Next mash 2 cloves of garlic in a mortar and pestle.
3. Mash in the chile peppers and some salt.
4. Lastly, mash in the tomato.
5. Enjoy! :)

Deer Skin Wallet I Crafted

The rest of the group then ate the salsa with lunch. Some of our other group made some delicious mango jelly that we enjoyed with lunch as well. After lunch was over we had a leather making workshop. We learned from the older gentleman on the ranch about the curing process and effort that goes into just creating the leather before you even craft it into something. It was a lot of work and something fascinating that I learned was that the skin is actually white and we dye it using bark from a tree to become the darker color that we all know and associate with leather. At the ranch, they use all types of skin ranging from cow to deer to goat. We then were given 3 hides, one was deer and the other 2 were goat leather and we were allowed to make whatever we want from it. Some people made belts, luggage tags, and others like me made a wallet. I found it very difficult to work with the deer hide as it was a lot thicker compared to the goat skin which was a lot more pliable. I actually am wearing a bracelet I made of goat skin and I keep it on 24/7. It is extremely durable and is a reminder of my time in Baja. After we had dinner, we had a council circle where we got to share some ideas and experiences that we took away from our time at the ranch since the next day we moved on to a different town. One of the major takeaways I took from this conversation was a goal to cut down on processed foods and try to live more sustainably. It's a lot healthier for your body and the environment and is also a glimpse at how the rest of the world lives who don't have so many expendable resources. It was a really great council circle that really got the gears turning in my head about what we were actually doing and the impact it has. I fell asleep with the ideas mentioned still racing through my head.

Day 4:

Erica (left), Kara (right), and I(middle) surfing 

We had to pack up and leave the ranch in the morning and it was very sad. We all felt like we had made such a great connection with our guides and hosts that we just wanted to stay and keep learning new things together. Fortunately, we were leaving the ranch and going straight to the beach to learn how to surf! I couldn't wait to go surfing even though I have never even tried. It had always been on my bucket list of things to do and I was stoked that I could finally do it and in Baja Mexico too! I was skeptical of my skill to get up on the board. We had some local instructors come to us and teach us the basics of surfing. They made it sound so simple and I couldn't wait to hop in the water despite it being quite cold. We were all individually paired up with an instructor and I got up all three times that I tried. It was quite an exhilarating experience and I was just dying to go surfing again afterward. We then went to our new home for the next few days showered up, took a siesta, and got ready to go visit the local orphanage. It was really awkward arriving at the orphanage at first as a majority of the kids were middle school boys and not very talkative. We decided that making conversation would just be forced and uncomfortable so, we decided to play sports. I joined in a fun game of ultimate frisbee. It was action packed and people were very competitive and diving to try and score a goal. Even though some of us didn't speak the same languages, we were still able to communicate just through victorious cheers. As we took a break from our ultimate frisbee game, I sat down to watch the orphanage boys and some of the boys on our trip play soccer together. It was really mesmerizing to watch and the boys were really good. I was grateful to have shared that experience with them and especially thankful for the shower afterward to wash off the dirt and the blood off my knees from our intense frisbee game. I snuggled into bed very well exhausted.

Day 5:
We had a very slow and relaxed start to our morning as we all strolled into breakfast at varied times. Once we were finally all at breakfast, we got to start the medicine workshop that we had planned for the day. This morning was the beginning of me getting sick on the trip and so I was exhausted and low energy. We started off the medicine workshop with taking a walk around the hotel property where our guide pointed out all the different plants and their medicinal uses. After our tour, we were sat down and showed a powerpoint on the history of shamanism and how the seven chakras worked. I was incredibly fascinated by this and contemplated doing my GIP project on this. It was a very interesting background and I love the strong theme of eco vs ego. This basically says that eco is where we as humans consider ourselves as part of the entire system and ego is where we consider ourselves above it which is what leads to the depletion of so many resources. It is essential to view the world as a balance and a cycle. We then got to taste the medicinal tinctures of the seven different tinctures and feel the effect that it had. Each of the different chakra tinctures had incredibly varied tastes and reactions. We then made our own tinctures and were able to take them home. This was pretty much the end of the day for me as I started to feel sicker and stayed back at the hotel instead of going out to dinner.

Day 6:
This day was pretty uneventful as well as I was still in the midst of my sickness. By now a larger chunk of our group was sick and so we had a doctor come to check us out. She prescribed us some medicines and after a morning and afternoon of rest, I started to feel a lot better. I made it so that I could go out to dinner to the Hotel California with the group. While at Hotel California, we requested them to play the Hotel California song and we decided it couldn't get much better than listening to this song at an actual Hotel California. The food was delicious and my sleep was definitely food coma induced.

Day 7:

Giving shade to one of the Skimmer Chicks

We left our hotel today and headed to Rancho La Duna. On our way to the ranch, we stopped at a local beach cleanup to offer our extra hands. It was along the Sea of Cortez but by the time we got there they already cleaned the beach so we all got on 2 boats and jetted off to a small island made from dredging. When we got there we saw tons of birds called Skimmers and Royal/Caspian Turns. Our guides told us these birds were actually nesting on this island and that they didn't know about it. Therefore the birds were very protective of the nest area and were getting worked up by our presence. We cleaned up a ton of netting we found on the island and freed 2 birds from the netting as well. On the island, there were a ton of bird carcasses and even a stingray carcass! We left the island after piling on a ton of the old netting onto the boats and logging our findings on an app. Then we arrived at Rancho La Duna and after we ate lunch we took a short five-minute drive to the beach to snorkel, identify fish, and collect algae samples. Snorkeling was really cool and I was able to identify a lot of different fish especially since I was scuba certified last summer. When we got back we got to try some chips one of the scientists brought that were made of algae and they were actually really good. I couldn't stop eating them especially the spicy ones. Next, we got to learn more about the algae that we had collected. I learned how to really easily identify the different types using a book. Some of the university students that were there with us were searching through the samples they grabbed and found a baby shrimp and a miniature starfish which was really cool to see. We then had a specialist talk to us about sea turtles in the area and it was actually really sad. We learned how people will kill them accidentally in nets and since they don't want to get caught for killing the sea turtles they cut off their heads and flippers so they sink to the bottom of the ocean. They also will capture them to make turtle soup and other leather products which are illegal. It was really interesting to know that this is still happening in current day and shocking to find that there isn't much awareness around this. I know Robyn who was also on my trip is thinking about doing her project on the sea turtles in Baja and I can't wait to hear it! We got to camp out in the soft, sandy dunes while looking up at the stars.

Day 8:

The Beautiful Island View

We left Rancho La Duna and headed towards La Isla Espíritu Santo! The boat ride to the island was amazing. The water was like blue glass and we just cut right through it. As we were approaching the island we saw a pod of spinner dolphins with some sea lions with them. They are called spinner dolphins because when they jump out of the water they spin and then dive back under. We would try and play with the dolphins and speed up really fast and the dolphins would go swim and play in the waves that we created. Once we got to the island, there were trumpet fish and sting rays all right by the shore. I got to paddle board before lunch with Dr.Stogdill, Betsy, Alexa, and our guide. It was amazing because we were in complete isolation and were able to freely explore the bay. The guide suggested that I jump off my board and without any hesitation I dove off into the shimmering water below. When I got back to camp I discovered that some of the members of our trip had collected hermit crabs and were racing them to discover the very best. It was surprisingly really intense and fun. We then popped onto to the boat to go snorkeling to see if we could see any sea turtles. As we were going over to a common sea turtle area, we spotted an osprey nest up in the cliffs. The key to finding a good place to snorkel was to watch the water very closely to see when little heads of the sea turtles would pop up. We weren't having much luck finding any except right when we were about to leave we saw a massive sea turtle. It was actually a Hawksbill which is a critically endangered species. Back at camp, I was exploring and found a dead bird carcass. Little did I know that was the first of many dead things to come. Once we finished setting out tents up right next to the beach, we noticed there was practically a fish graveyard right next to us. There were a lot of pufferfish carcasses and one even died puffed up! There were also target fish carcasses which had really intimidating teeth sticking out of their mouths. Stephanie, our sea turtle expert, notices that there was a sea turtle nest right next to our tent! You could see the trail where she dragged herself in and then you could see the area in which she dug and created the nest. It was a unique thing to witness and I was definitely excited to have it so close to my tent. I slept very tightly knowing that little sea turtle eggs were growing right near me.

Day 9:
We started off this morning in one of the most exciting ways possible. As a group, we took a 45-minute boat drive to the opposite side of the island that we were staying on and found a tiny island that hosted a HUGE sea lion colony. When I say huge, I mean it. There were colossal dominant male sea lions but there were also tiny little newborn pups that were nursing on their mothers. It was incredible to see the age diversity within the colony. It was breathtaking to look at but then we got to hop actually in the water and swim with the sea lions! The water was pretty cold but it was well worth it for the many up close encounters with the sea lions. They were just like little dogs underwater, they would swim really fast at you and then at the last second turn away really quickly. We were warned of a certain behavior that was not considered playful. As silly as it sounds, if a sea lion blows a line of bubbles at you under no circumstances should you blow a line of bubbles back. This is seen as accepting the big males challenge to fight, which you certainly don't want to do as they can weigh upwards of 660 pounds. I opted out of our 2nd snorkeling excursion to stay back and finish reading my book. After I finished my book, I took the paddle board out and just paddle out into the bay and lay down. It felt so nice to just nap in pretty much the middle of nowhere.  When the other group got back we had some delicious dinner and retired to our tents for the night.

Day 10:
Unfortunately, we had to depart from our perfect paradise. We spent a majority of the day traveling and finally returned to Todos Santo. While in Todos Santos, we were let loose to go shopping. We got back to our hotel after dinner and slept the night away.

Day 11:
We said a tearful goodbye to our tour guides and left Baja and made it safely back to LAX.

April 13, 2016: Welcoming the Finns

The Visting Finns!

Today I got the pleasure of eating lunch with students visiting from Finland and took one of them to my F period class, AP Biology. Over a tasty Pad Thai, the Finnish students and my peers talked about everything from politics to hobbies. I was pleasantly surprised by their kindness and well-refined English skills. I learned that the school structure in Finland is very similar to America but the main difference is that they take courses like Biology and Calculus but instead of spending a year in the class like we do they learn about it throughout all the years they spend in high school.  I also learned that Americans aren't the only one concerned about the future of our country, the Finnish students showed a lot of knowledge in American politics and were asking us who we wanted to see as the future president. After a delicious lunch, I took one of the Finnish students, Nicholas, with me to AP Biology class. He told me he was also studying biology and was really eager to know what we were learning. In AP Biology we were in the middle of a four day lab, so I explained to him about how we were using DNA sequencing to test whether or not a food was a GM organism. He was fascinated and told me that at his school they don't actually do labs, they only read about them hypothetically because they don't have technology to actually do the labs. So to say the least, Nicholas was very excited to sit in our biology class. He insisted on seeing my textbook and oogled at the equipment and posters throughout the classroom. At last class was over and we had to say our goodbyes. I was so glad to have the opportunity to meet with Nicholas and the other Finnish students and hope they have safe travels back home!

April 8, 2016: Arn Chorn Pond's Story

Arn Chorn Pond © Boston Globe

This past Friday, our school had the wonderful opportunity to listen to Arn Chorn Pond share his stories, experiences, and words of wisdom to the future generations. Arn Chorn Pond was a child imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970's. His eloquent speech told of the adversities he faced while in the camp and how music literally saved his life. Arn's story of his childhood experiences are very touching and he amazed me with his strength and persistence even in the face of danger. Yet despite all the incredible hardships and unimaginable circumstances Arn faced one of the most memorable experiences he described was when he first came to America. Arn had a hard time fitting into the community of exclusive American high school students. They didn't understand his experiences and what he had been through and so the students constantly taunted and teased Arn. This caused Arn to feel suicidal thoughts and only recovered at the rediscovery of music, which his adopted father encouraged him to revive his musical passion. I found this really eye opening since it is comparable to immigrants from many other countries experiences in America. In my English III Contemporary American Cultures class, we have read many experiences of immigrants coming to America and they all share one common element. This common element is that no one knows their story and no one really cares enough to find out either. Arn warns us of this and encouraged us as the future generation to learn people's stories, to ask, and to share our own stories. I was inspired by Arn's words and will definitely carry them with me as I continue on my Global Studies journey.

Introduction!

Blackberry and I

Hi there, welcome to my Global Initiatives Scholar blog! My name's Katie and I currently attend Polytechnic School. At Poly, I am a year four AP Spanish student, science lover, equestrian enthusiast, and will be Poly's Girl's Service League co-president. I came to Poly in sixth grade and one of the most drawing programs to me was the GIP (Global Initiatives Program).  While in high school, I have taken GIP's Latin America World Cultures class and plan to take GIP's Film History class, GIP's Comunidad Global en Acción class, and GIP's Literature and Science of Disease class. Click here to read about my initial interest in the GIP program.

As for my global experiences, my most recent adventure was to the Caribbean Island of Dominica with Poly sponsored by Operation Wallacea. While in Dominica me and 15 other students conducted research led by various scientists on the island. The research was related to animals, endemic and invasive species, and marine life. The goal of the research was to help support the papers that the scientists would write which would later help the locals to better understand their environment. This way the locals can partake in the conservation of Dominica's wide biodiversity and use it to their advantage. I loved my experiences in Dominica and hope to revisit soon to see the progress made to be a more developed country. Operation Wallacea was a blast to work with and I would highly recommend anyone who seeks an international research-based project to check them out! Check out the blog of our experience there and the pictures below. For my capstone project, I have been tinkering with the idea of addressing how different cultures interact with their environment.

Dominican Beach

Measuring the birds

Crayfish I caught!

This summer I am going to do community service and more research in Baja California del Sur and can't wait to blog about it once I get back. We have been meeting on weekends to prepare and learn more about the culture of Baja. We will be traveling all across the peninsula and the pictures below are a sneak peak of where I'll be going in June 2016.

Isla Espiritu Santo © Glits

Town of Todos Santos © MickLuther

Thanks for reading my blog and getting to know me. Check back for more adventures and experiences soon!

-Katie