This is a picture of me infront of the scholars community the day I committed to the University of Maryland.
Email: acanna@umd.edu
My experience as a College Park Scholar in the Science and Global Change Program has greatly opened my eyes to resilience in a future of global change. Being in this program has altered my perspective on our future by not focusing on the doom and gloom. The Science and Global Change Program has also given me a greater understanding of the differences between global warming and climate change. Something that has stuck with me all three semesters has been that it is inevitable that the climate will change. However, the acceleration due to humans is what scientists are concerned about. Before I was a scholar, I didn’t understand that the concept of climate change is a natural process. If I had never joined the Science and Global Change Scholars Program, I may have never learned something as simple as that and would still be thinking otherwise. I will never forget my second semester of freshman year when I was reading an article about an increase in storm frequency and intensity due to climate change. Reading this article, there were a few things that stood out to me and I was able to understand more because of Science and Global Change. The first thing was how and why the atmosphere has been warming. From Science and Global Change, I knew about how light is reflected or absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere. I also learned how fossil fuel emissions have led to an increase in global temperatures and a harsh change in weather patterns. From the beginning of this Scholars program, I have gained knowledge about historical statistics that put global warming into perspective and I’ve observed data on weather patterns alongside that. Because of this, I understood a lot more background than someone else may have because I had the knowledge from Science and Global Change. For example, I learned that infrared radiation from the sun enters Earth's atmosphere and gets trapped by greenhouse gasses. This warms the planet. As the planet warms, precipitation increases because more evaporation occurs due to higher temperatures. I knew this information because of Science and Global Change- whereas someone who was not in the program may not have thought about that from this one news article. Science and Global Change Scholars program has enhanced my understanding of global warming and how it affects almost everything. Over the past three semesters, Science and Global Change has had a huge impact on my major. Before enrolling in this program, I was set on being a civil engineer. Once I began classes I realized engineering wasn’t for me. Fortunately, I was able to explore the world of climate change through CPSG100 and discovered a love for the environment. As of this semester, I am officially an Environmental Science and Policy major with a minor in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science as well as Global Engineering Leadership. The material that helped me find my love for the environment was all throughout the first semester freshman year. I loved all of our weather topics as well as learning the background information on what global warming really is. In addition, because of the three required courses for this program, I decided to take Atmospheric and Oceanic Science (AOSC200). This course was another reason Science and Global Change helped me pivot my future career because I was learning very similar topics to colloquium and it was solidifying that interest. This course then led me to taking the lab version of this course, AOSC201. This class also solidified that environmental love and I would have never taken it- had I not joined Science and Global Change. Because I took that initial class from the Science and Global Change supporting course list, AOSC200, I decided to continue my education in that field and add a minor. If I never decided to become a Science and Global Change Scholar, I probably would have stuck with civil engineering. This- in turn- may have made me extremely unhappy. Science and Global Change has enhanced my future trajectory and life goals. Another requirement from Science and Global Change that helped me decide to switch my major was the practicum requirement. I chose to intern with Whiting-Turner, a civil engineering and contracting company. I worked there all summer and I really enjoyed the company and people; I got to make countless connections and network in a nationwide company; I enjoyed learning from the people I worked with. However, it did help me see what the engineering field looks like after college. At the end of freshman year, I knew I wanted to switch out of engineering and into environmental science and policy. However, I was very hesitant because engineering had been on my mind since I was 10 years old. My practicum project helped me gain real world experience in civil engineering and see firsthand that this field is not for me. Had I never joined Science and Global Change, I may not have even thought about applying for internships my freshman year. I probably would have been consumed with the idea that I was too young and didn’t have enough experience to get one. If I never got this internship, I don’t think I would have ever switched from engineering. Personally I think that without Science and Global Change, my knowledge on the civil engineering field would not be as refined as it is now. To add to my professional experience in Science and Global Change, I also got to enhance my social support by living in a living-learning community. Because I am a STEM major- similar to many students in this program- I had classes with lots of fellow scholars. Living in the same community as them gave me extra support with classes, an outlet for me to go if I was stressed, and a second opinion when I had questions. An example of this is our website portfolio creations. When assigned this for the first time and when switching to a new platform, many students were extremely confused and stressed out. One night, we had a group of several scholars sit down and work together to figure it out. After this night, we had our websites up and running. We then took the knowledge we learned and periodically helped others as we went along. Something I admire about Science and Global Change is that the program is very interactive and engaging. Something I always enjoyed doing was participating in scholars-specific activities like Scholars Under the Lights, Smore making, Doughnut Day for finals, etc. I also applied and interviewed to be a representative for our program. Although I did not get the position, I really enjoyed going through the process. As stated above, being in this program gave me lots of support with classes, but it also gave me the opportunity to stretch my knowledge and beliefs about climate change and courses. For example, anytime we did group work, my perspective was always challenged because I always ended up learning something new from someone else. This has allowed me to remember that I am never done learning or growing. My views will constantly change throughout my life as I gain new experiences. All in all, scholars, particularly Science and Global Change, has completely changed my future trajectory. Because of what I have learned through the last three semesters, I will now be going into the future and my career more informed. I will actively try to find ways to make a difference in my personal life as well as my professional life. When I eventually buy a home, I’ll look at using alternative power sources, growing my own food, and using a variety of strategies explored throughout this semester.