Individualized Major: Sustainable Communities

Graduation Date: May 2025

Why Individualized? Humanity's unique ability to create, steward, and sustain culture leaves me in constant awe. The opportunity to express such creative force in an academic degree excited me beyond my heart's content. I couldn't pass up the chance to explore a more social perspective in my environmental science degree. Rooted in my "imago Dei" belief, I wanted to design a degree that reflected me as much as possible.

Most memorable course or project from your major? Leadership in Community-Based Conservation, taught by Dr. Laura Cisneros, sparked my desire to design a major. Due to the course and several other factors, my life before and after has been distinctly different. It has also fueled the pursuit of courses such as Culture and Conservation with Dr. Eleanor Ouimet and Environmental Sustainability of Food Production in Developing Countries with Dr. Roy Davis, which have marked considerable shifts in how I engage with course material.

An individual who inspired you? It's challenging to single out just one person who has inspired me. My engagement with the Natural Resource Conservation Academy, Office of Sustainability, and the UConn Navigators, among other spaces, has exposed me to many inspiring people. Selecting one would be a disservice to the many who have influenced me!

Future plans? So many! I want to live the rest of my life embracing the lifestyle of "accompaniment" - living and walking alongside others to awaken hearts and transform communities. I don't know what context that will be in. I may stay in the UConn/Willimantic area, accompanying college students as they ask big questions and navigate lives as emerging young adults. Perhaps I'll accompany immigrants and refugees in Clarkson, GA, as they leave their countries of origin and navigate new cultural and community dynamics. Or somewhere else! My major/lifestyle is about living for the sake of others, and I'll know where to go when the time comes. In the meantime, I'll spend every waking hour living intentionally to transform the community I've been placed in for the time being.

Episode Transcript