Communication Skills
My communication skills have grown through my community involvement, centered around diversity, inclusion, and education. This year, I was elected social chair of the Association of Women in the Geosciences (AWG). Through my position, I have been able to increase attendance at events by 30%--an important rise due to the lack of diversity present in the geosciences. We have also aimed to work with local K-12 schools to introduce girls to geology from a young age, presenting them with new career options that may have otherwise felt unreachable.
Similarly, I volunteer to table for both the geology and history departments during events for freshman and transfer students. I love to highlight how beneficial it is to work in both the sciences and the humanities, and I have been able to convince many other students of such. Educating new students on the exciting possibilities opens up new pathways that may have been overlooked due to the small size of both departments I am involved in, and increasing the student population in each increases opportunities and funding for every person, new student or otherwise.
Leadership
In my freshman year, I quickly found that having a mentor eased the transition into college. Consequently, I have been a mentor for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, assisting new students to make that same move. My work has ranged from helping others create class schedules to giving tours to new families. Similarly, I am a mentor for the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, where I help students create a research project, obtain funding, and conduct their own research. From my own experience, I have found it to be difficult to find a place to begin with humanities research, most especially at a STEM-focused university like the University of Florida. Despite these challenges, in the past year, I have helped three students present projects, opening new opportunities for them to pursue their interests in history, political science, and English.
Teamwork
This past summer, I lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I knew nobody, and was grouped with nine other students to work in the same research program. We all came from different backgrounds, majors, and states, but throughout our time in Mississippi, we grew to be close friends and teammates. Through this experience, we each developed an independent research project. As we were all in the same situation (and lived together 24/7), we became proficient at working together, peer editing, and overly improving each other's work. The end conference was rated to be the best in the program's many years, and we credit it to our teamwork.
Global & Cultural Engagement
My field school in Peru was the first time I ever left North America. I did not speak Spanish, nor did I know anyone else attending the program. Throughout the weeks that I was there, I was thrust into a new culture, language, and country. Still, I was able to adapt, learning how to fit into Huanchaco. I moved from being unable to navigate the main strip of road by the beach to being able to travel to the market alone to make purchases. While in Peru, my classmates and I also attended religious festivals, museums, and archeological sites, providing a vast background of cultural knowledge that I am now able to draw upon in my work here in the States. I now understand varying points of view to a greater extent, and can communicate across cultural boundaries.