Over the last three semesters, I have learned a lot about the nature of science. I have developed skills to explore and understand science with a critical lens, and I ultimately have a much better understanding of global change than I did a year and a half ago. In the news, I encountered reports of the increasing strength and frequency of hurricanes. We are seeing the damage of these increasing hazards firsthand. This year, Hurricane Helene caused an immense amount of destruction in the Appalachian Region, while Hurricane Milton did the same in Florida. In SGC we learned about the function of climate and weather and how these large storm events can occur. I found myself thinking about something we learned in class: that as these huge rain events happen in some regions, there will also be droughts in other regions. I kept this in mind as I learned about climate in the Physical Geology class I took this semester. As we discussed these storm events and the changes in wind and ocean currents, I was grateful to have my foundation from SGC already. We learned about hurricanes and other storms, as well as the destruction that comes with them. I found myself thinking about sea level rise and storm surges and combining what I was taught in each of these courses. I have realized that my SGC background causes me to approach with a different lens, making connections I wouldn’t have before. Now, I think more when I hear about things like hurricanes in the news, rather than just passively consuming the information. Alternatively, the content I’ve learned in SGC has also helped me connect to my major and my major-specific coursework. In the Fall Semester of my Freshman year, I took Principles of Ecology and Evolution, where I learned about figures such as Lamark, Cuvier, Lyell, and Darwin, among others. At the same time, we were reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, where she discussed the histories of these same individuals, where their theories came from, and how their theories are still applied. I really enjoyed this book and it gave me insight and a greater appreciation for the histories I was learning in class. More specifically, in this third semester of SGC, we have discussed a lot of solutions for climate change. Some of these have involved restoring and conserving wetlands and peatlands, as well as altering how land is used for agriculture. This overlaps strongly with the things I have learned being an Environmental Science major on the soil science track. I find it interesting to learn about soil as it interacts with the atmosphere, and it has been valuable to combine the climate-change-centric things I have learned with the soil-science-centric things I have learned. In this way, my SGC education has made me approach soil with carbon and conservation in mind.
I am grateful for the opportunity I have had in scholars to make friends with similar academic interests to me. Having a roommate my freshman year who was also in SGC to discuss the coursework with was really nice. It wasn’t a conscious decision either of us made to intentionally spend more time with the content. However, whenever one of us was working on a discussion question for the week or had an opinion based on a lecture, we would mention it to one another. From here, we had plenty of productive conversations which has continued into the third semester. Similarly, I made a friend through SGC who is coincidentally in the same major, concentration, and minor as me. We’ve taken several classes together and will often simultaneously make connections to things we’ve learned in SGC when a relevant topic comes up in another class. We’re both very interested in soil science, even joining UMD’s soil judging team, so it’s nice to be able to talk about things like carbon sequestration in soils and soil as an atmospheric modifier with someone who has learned all the same things about climate change. I’m not sure if being in the living-learning community made a huge difference in my learning. Rather than being on a floor with SGC scholars, I ended up placed on one with a variety of other scholars students. There were only 5 SGC students on my floor: 2 Freshmen (my roommate and I) and 3 sophomores. I know when I visited friends on other floors though, there seemed to be a much stronger sense of SGC community.
I contributed to SGC by being an actively engaged student. I did my best to take advantage of my learning opportunities by asking questions on field trips and getting to know my peers through collaborating on group assignments. I also volunteered to be a scholars ambassador, where I have gotten to know scholars students from other programs and helped prospective students on their transition into college. Answering questions and talking about what I’ve gained from SGC is my favorite part of ambassador events. I hope that I have left a positive impression on the students I’ve spoken with at open house events or during telethons. Hopefully, some of those same students have been excited to start their college journey as an SGC scholar.
I had no idea how much the fossil fuel industries have influenced how society views climate change. Before SGC, I was definitely naive about how much of the misinformation regarding climate change is due to propaganda spread by the fossil fuel industry. I also had no idea that the carbon footprint model and focus on the emissions of the individual was a ploy to take attention away from corporations. I knew that the largest problem was at the industry level and that individual change would only make a difference to a fraction of emissions. However, I had never thought about those campaigns targeting individuals as distractions. That was something that came as a surprise to me and has certainly altered the way I approach and think about similar things. This, among other concepts learned in class, challenged me to use a more critical lens with science in news and media. I am grateful for the tools taught to us over these three semesters to make us stronger thinkers.
I am certain that the things I learned in SGC will remain relevant and help me have a deeper understanding of the things I’ll learn throughout my junior and senior years. As someone studying environmental sciences, having a strong understanding of climate change is crucial. I suspect some of the things I will be most grateful to have learned are the practical ones. I have already been glad to have research papers broken down for me. I also find myself searching for logical fallacies in others’ arguments. I hope that my SGC experiences will guide me to being a well-informed and environmentally conscious individual. Depending on whatever career I end up with, I’m sure that I will draw on the climate change solutions and knowledge of energy resources I have learned. I hope to become a valuable contributor to society using these skills and will continue to take advantage of my education.