Alaine's 3 Semester Review

During my time here at SGC, I have had the opportunity to learn a plethora of topics encompassing more than what I had heard about previously with the term "climate and global change". I was able to get an in-depth understanding of the different earth systems and how they are all crucial in changing environments. Learning about these has allowed me to form connections between different aspects of a single topic. Relating information from these past semesters and putting concepts together helps piece together a much bigger picture which is the goal of the Science and Global Change Program. Throughout these past semesters, I was taught to think critically and look beyond the surface level and ask why things happen, which pushed me to learn more about whichever topic I was pursuing. This semester I took a course on the systems and circuits of the brain and while this class content was quite different from SGC, I was able to apply the same skills of critical thinking to understand why things happen and the way in which they impact our lives. I have gotten to explore the many facets of science and how each has its own impact on society and despite how different they may sound, they are joined together in some way shape or form. This semester we finished off part of the curriculum talking about mad scientists and the ethical concerns that came with their experiments, but also the ongoing debate of whether or not their findings should be used. Coincidentally, this was one of the first things we learned in my neuroscience class and even some of the same experiments and researchers. This went to show that despite these being two completely different courses researchers in all fields are facing the same kinds of debates. These also are not just problems that come with purely scientific researchers, but the public also needs to be involved. That was another one of the biggest takeaways I got from this program: understanding that as cliche as it may sound, every voice and input matters. This speaks volumes when making decisions about the public and can also influence how we want our policymakers to react to the problems society is currently facing.

SGC was a great way to have a community especially coming in as a freshman. The friendships made and the activities that were planned were all ways that I was able to connect with my peers and enjoy my experience here. The wonderful thing about this cohort of students is that there are so many different majors and people with varying interests, and being able to find people who share the same subjects benefited when it came to navigating courses. I also loved being able to hear about others' experiences in their own classes and listen to their project work and how it related or differed from my field.

Knowing the impact SGC had and the resources they provided, I became a peer mentor this year and it has proven to be an extremely rewarding experience. I felt this was a great way to stay involved and give back to what the community had given me, especially coming in as a freshman unsure of what to expect from this program. Having mentees and being able to connect with them and hear their journey allowed me to guide them as they navigated their ways but also helped me to learn about their interests and how they planned on using the skills in SGC in their lives. I remember reaching out to my mentor as a freshman and asking questions about where I could find certain resources and how she networked with people in her department. I was able to pass on that knowledge to my group of freshmen and help them as they looked for more opportunities.

SGC has shaped the importance I give to climate change and put the numbers we hear on the news into perspective. There are many sources online that I've learned to check their reliability of the platform and author, but also different forms of biases. With everyone wanting to share their opinion, it gets hard to get factual information that hasn't been distorted in some way. After being able to properly identify a resource I could also put the numbers into context. These semesters we were shown graphs that depicted changes in temperature and CO2 levels in the atmosphere since the late 1900s and I could see the extent and the drastic increase which was caused by as small as a degree increase per year. Hearing an increase of one or two degrees does not sound like much, but now knowing and having seen the patterns, I realize the problem that is at hand. SGC also tied in so many topics that showed the harmful implications of having a changing globe in a negative way. The economic effects and the impact on people's social life is not what we usually think of. We're more focused on a couple of creatures in the wild that may not be able to thrive like they used to. But even there, the plunder in the health of habitats and the loss of biodiversity in ecosystems is shocking and it makes me realize that we fail to see the extinction and depletion of species right before our eyes. With the daily hustle and everyone living their busy lives, most people don't think they are going to be tremendously impacted by the change in the planet, when in reality there are an immense number of indirect effects that would ultimately pile up.

Going forward in the future, I know I will be able to carry what I have learned from SGC and the memories I have made throughout the years. I want to pursue a career in the field of medicine and there is so much about health and wellness along with ethics that I would be able to apply in my daily life. Knowing also ways in which companies are becoming more sustainable I hope to take what I have learned about the different forms of sustainable infrastructure and be able to provide input to the people I interact with so that people are aware of alternatives that would help the environment thrive. With the service trips and activities that I was able to take part in during these past three semesters, I saw so many ways in which I could get involved with my local community and will continue to do so in the future as well. I'm grateful for the time and people in SGC, and the lessons I have learned here that I will be able to carry forward many years ahead.