My experiences in Science and Global Change Scholars over the last three semesters have helped me gain a better understanding of the causes and impacts of past and present global change which I would not have had otherwise if I had not been in Scholars. Furthermore, the program taught me the importance of the use of scientific knowledge and communication when making decisions for the future.
First, colloquium lectures helped me better understand news related to global climate change. Reading news of the forest fires in the Amazon Rainforest earlier this year as well as in California in the summer reminded me of the effects of climate change that we have discussed in class. I think I had a better understanding of the causes of the increasing fires and connecting it to climate change because of SGC. Learning in SGC about how humans have increased the effects and severity of climate change and seeing that play out around the globe as our planet warms allows me to better understand the impacts of climate change.
An example of a misunderstanding about the scientific method that I have seen spreading around social media is the recent confusion and lack of understanding about how vaccine trials work, specifically for double blind studies for the coronavirus vaccines for covid-19. Some people have recently been skeptical of the trials because they do not understand that double blind means that neither the company or the volunteer know whether they received the vaccine or the placebo. My SGC experience probably helped me to recognize the misinformation surrounding vaccines and how the vaccine studies are performed. Also, I have also seen some climate change denialism from people that do not understand that global warming does not mean that every single day is warmer than the last, but rather that there is a long term trend toward warmer global temperatures. Scholars has helped me to be able to figure out fact vs fiction when it comes to scientific material.
Furthermore, the Science and Global Change Scholars content that I have found most relevant to my major of GIS was probably last year when we covered the atmosphere section in colloquium because at the same time I was also learning about the makeup of the atmosphere in my Geography 201 class that focused on physical geography. This content was relevant to my major because this involves physical natural geography and basics about how the planet and atmosphere interact with one another. All of this is important to be able to see how changes in the atmosphere (such as from pollution) would have a significant impact on global conditions.
Also, the supporting courses that I took over the semesters helped to expand upon topics that were addressed in Scholars. Specifically, items such as climate change causing more severe weather events, well as the makeup of the layers of the atmosphere was among the content I learned about in AOSC 200 this semester, as well as Geog 201 as I mentioned above.
Additionally, living in the Scholars living learning community allowed me to interact with other SGC scholars and find common interests with other peers that benefited both in and outside of Scholars. This gave me an opportunity to work on group projects with other members of the cohort and more effectively learn through working with other classmates as well as with new friends. Although I typically studied alone, the living learning community gave me the opportunity to study in small group rooms with other students if I so chose to.
In addition, Scholars aims to encourage active contribution on the part of students, either in specific academic situations or as part of the larger Scholars community. For me, being a part of the Scholars community has helped me to contribute more to the overall causes for the program and feel more connected to it because of these contributions. I feel like I have contributed to Scholars a good amount over the last 3 semesters. I helped out at the service learning event at the cleanup for Kenillworth Aquatic Gardens. Not related to SGC Scholars specifically, but last year I went to a talk for the Scholars 25th anniversary event for my excursion report led by Representative Jamie Raskin and that was a great learning experience about constitutional law, etc. While there, I helped to contribute to the scholars community by photographing Mr. Raskin and Dr. Lindeman who was there too, as well as other scholar leaders in order to document the learning opportunity they provided to students. Also, during colloquium I have participated in many of the discussions about reading questions and lectures during our breakout rooms and when we were in in-person class I always participated in those as well.
Finally, I think I will always remember my time in scholars and the experiences and knowledge I gained. I think I will think back to the field trips we took and use gained knowledge from those as well as all the work we did in the rain at that service day in the gardens with our soaked and dirty water pants. I will be able to utilize these experiences in the future to showcase that even when a task is hard and it makes you want to give up, I was able to persevere through it and complete the task at hand, just like I do for all tasks. This will help me as I progress through my years at UMD. Likewise, farther along, this could also help me for careers if I want to show that I am a hard and diligent worker and will not give up till I try as many ways as possible to solve a problem.
All in all, I am very grateful for all of the opportunities that Scholars has provided me to grow and learn and build lasting relationships with many of the students in the cohort and in the living learning community.