As a Global Scholars Fellow, I was immersed in a 5-week Global Livingston Institute virtual program to get a deep dive in what international development was and learned the different aspects of it, from youth education to public health. Every week, I would listen in to five different lectures led by different guest speakers, including community development leaders from East Africa and NGO program directors. I would also read articles and journals related to what international development was, how Global Livingston Institute tackles international development in a unique approach and the histories of Uganda and Rwanda. I am inspired by the Global Livingston Institute’s mission statement of “Listen. Think. Act.” because it is rooted in the idea of understanding and empathizing a problem thoroughly before taking strategic actions. I learned that society’s problems, whether it’s poverty or gun violence, are so much deeper than the surface level. These complex problems are like icebergs in which most individuals usually view them at surface level. However, the roots of the problem that perpetuates the problems, or the iceberg, is what you cannot visually see. This program taught me that activism means being courageous and committed enough to put in the thoughtful work needed to create meaningful, positive change. Activists put in the effort and time to ensure that the problems are effectively being solved because complex problems call for complex solutions. Through the video chats and readings, I was reminded that international development calls for permanent systematic change, such as educating and empowering local communities, instead of short-term solutions. I appreciated how I got to connect with the fifty other fellows on pertinent international development issues through meaningful discussion boards and personal conversations.

Here is the link to my Google Slides final presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Q1W3gP5CYFmjqfN5gGBiCUoZY2rEPnok8fBff2KoyvE/edit?usp=sharing

This summer, I participated as a Global Scholars Fellow in an immersive 5-week remote-based international development classroom and research experience hosted by the Global Livingston Institute. I was assigned to a 7-person Public Health & Music research group with fellows from Colorado to Louisiana. I was ecstatic to contribute to one of Global Livingston’s major projects, the iKnow Concert Series. The concerts are free public health music festivals offered in East Africa dedicated to offering free health services and de-stigmatizing HIV amongst hard to reach communities. My research group was tasked with strategically assessing and making key recommendations on the applicability and feasibility of the concert series in other communities and countries. Every week, our research group had specific milestones, collaborated through Zoom calls, interviewed experts in the field, and received guidance through our group mentor who is the founder of the concert series. Due to the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19, my research group looked towards expanding the concert into a virtual model through Facebook Live video streams and other technology avenues, such as podcasts to interview rising artists, to disseminate vital public health information. We recommended the concert series to establish strategic partnerships with current NGOs with experience in technology, popular mobile applications amongst the communities, and local Internet providers to assist with rural access. We also researched which countries the concert series should expand to through factors such as public health education and the significance of music in their cultures. Our research group homed in on the countries Rwanda, Tanzania, India, and Nigeria as promising candidates. In week 5, my research group had the opportunity to present our unique findings to Global Livingston Institute board members. I am amazed at how much my group was able to accomplish during this short time together. This was a wonderful fellowship where I got to expand my international development experience through hands-on work, connect with inspirational individuals, and learn more about how the music and the arts can be used as a mechanism to drive public health messages.

Medellín, Colombia (Antioquia)

Due to Medellín is in a valley it was left isolated for over 300 years, which I found to be crazy, but with the railroad they were able to connect people to each other. With the use of the mountains, trafficking became big and this was the start of gangs, who caused a lot of violence within the city and made it the most dangerous place in the world. This is interesting because even through the transformation of the city, people and the media still have a perception that Medellín is not safe and only bad things happen there. For example, before coming to Colombia people would tell me “be careful”, “is that a good idea”, “I heard people get kidnapped there”, but I knew a lot of this was due to a lack of knowledge of the country’s evolution. I understood that staying in a constant state of fear is bad especially without educating myself is foolish, which is why I choose to educate myself and learn about the Colombia ad travel there because I knew that it had a rich culture and it made me want to travel there even more and experiences the diversity and learning that it had to offer.

Meeting with Grey who works with ex-combatants was amazing. The fact that she was able to create this project that provided a space for ex-combatants to tell their stories and experiences with the conflict within Colombia was really important and impactful. This is important because people often forget that people who are in guerilla groups are people too and they have stories just like those who have fallen victim to the conflict. Just because they are in these groups does not me it was by choice and most of the time joining is the only way for them to survive. Projects like this are moving Colombia in the right direction to help ex-combatants re-entering society in a productive and informative way for the country to understand their point of views and hopefully give them space to be a part of society. With the use of textiles and weaving these ex-combatants are able to get a sense of hope for their futures and put their past behind them.

Bogotá, Colombia (La Calandria)

Learning about the city and the history behind its existence was important to understand why people use the arts as a form of resistance. The mixture of diversity of the country that made it rich in knowledge but is one of the big problems with the country as well. This often bleeds into the diversity of musical genres throughout the country. The bio-diversity with the country is something that makes Colombia a rich place, but it caused a lot of division between different parts of the country due to the Andes, which made communication hard and forced separation between them and allowed corruption to happen.

            Visiting the Museo Claustro D San Agustín was really impactful for me because it is a place that houses photos and documents that captures pivotal moments in Colombia’s history. Which are needed because without documentation or record of these moments they would be brushed under the rug and silenced. Which would allow for the continuation of destruction to these diverse communities. But with these tangible pieces of oppression people are able to speak to the injustice and this is often done through protest and artistic expression, which allows them to fight for their rights and reinforce their culture and not let the powers at play dictate the way they should live and express themselves to align with the ideologies of those powers.

            For me meeting LAP 24/7, which are a musical group was really cool and impactful for me and I had a great time listening to their music. Being able to hear their stories and gain an understanding of the struggles of people who are victims of the violence go through was really powerful. In the cases of Juan and Andres they were able to make it out of their hard situations using music as a tool to facilitate that. The way they use their life experiences to curate music that is critical of their environment I think is an important part of resistance to show people that their stories and struggles won’t be silenced. This shows other kids like themselves that there is another option and that they don’t have to fall into the traps of the streets (drugs/ gangs). Their use of Hip-Hop in combination of their lyrics is very powerful, captivating and make their mission even more inspiring.

The ocean sciences meeting this year was located in San Diego, California. The meeting had roughly six thousand attendees and exhibitors, comprised of scientists, students at all levels, and science enthusiasts. Throughout the week, I attended oral presentations, standard poster sessions, and digital poster sessions. Many of the other interns from my time last summer at Bigelow were in attendance. Donoven was the only one who did a full oral presentation and he did very well. My other friends completed standard poster sessions. In the poster hall there were over three thousand posters on display. Only one of my other interns, Cat Mahoney, completed the digital poster session with me. All of the other undergraduates who presented at our session had very interesting projects. They were also highly diverse and no two were very similar.

My Junior year fall, Rollins gave me the opportunity to go to the Duke Marine Lab for a “semester abroad” in North Carolina. It was an amazing opportunity where I met other students with interests in marine biology. One of these students was D’amy Steward and she happened to be at the conference and presenting in the same digital session as I was. I was not aware of this before the conference and it was so wonderful to see her again. It really showed me how widespread the ASLO conference is and how many people actually attend. Oceanography and Limnology are very large fields but at the same time, they are a small world. Getting to meet other like-minded scientists was a cool experience I would not have gotten if I was unable to attend.

Me at my poster talking to a few scientists.

Me at my poster

Me presenting

At the ASLO, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020, I took part in the undergraduate eLighting presentation. This means that I created a digital poster ( osm2020-agu.ipostersessions.com/Default.aspx?s=C3-D3-71-B7-18-D1-32-05-34-14-6C-5F-06-9A-64-A0 ) that shares similarities to a regular poster except that it can have YouTube videos and more space for pictures. My poster was on my research: Gulf of Maine Temperature-Salinity Curves from the Early 1900s (Henry Bigelow) Compared to the Present (Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series) that I had completed this past summer at my Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) internship at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. My project was completed with help from senior research scientist Dr. Barney Balch at Bigelow. My project entailed taking temperature and salinity data from the scientist Henry Bigelow, from the years 1912-1915, and comparing it to data taken from Henry Mission One from Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series (GNATS), which occurred in 2008. GNATS data is actually from an autonomous glider named Henry. After examining the data, I stratified the data by latitude, longitude, and time of year to have a more accurate comparison of the data. Then I made Temperature-salinity plots using excel. The digital poster session started out with all people taking part in a short three-minute presentation to pitch our poster relevance and findings. After that we all stood near our posters and answered any questions from people who came by and had questions. It was an incredibly fulfilling experience to talk to a wide variety of scientists about the project I had completed.

Having only taken one entire class in the Computer Science Major Map, I was very intimidated going into the Grace Hopper Celebration. I knew there would be countless high achieving women there who had known they were going to be in the tech industry since middle school, whereas I had recently found my love for coding and web development. Though I was extremely excited to be able to go to this conference the insecurities were quickly overtaking my mind. Even though this was the case, I still knew that I was going to face my fear and go into this conference wanting to get as much as I possibly could.

            Overall, I would say that I really did learn a lot throughout this conference. One of the most valuable lessons that I learned was definitely making connections with others. I feel like I was able to make some amazing relationships with several people which was a great learning experience being that it’s not everyday that you are able to talk to the largest companies in the tech industry. I absolutely loved talking to one recruiter from Snapchat who I even was able to connect with on LinkedIn which gave me the confidence boost that I needed after being so intimidated by everything.

            Along with networking, I felt that I came out of the conference extremely empowered as a woman in technology. Despite the fact that I wasn’t necessarily to most advanced or experienced in the tech field, I was still overwhelmingly accepted by every person that I encountered. Anywhere from the workshops to the panels to the networking opportunities, I felt like I had found a place where I had a support system cheering me on to succeed. This experience truly changed my perspective and I am extremely grateful.

This year I had the absolute honor of being able to go to the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing. I heard about this conference when I was on another SHIP Grant sponsored competitive program called Summer of Code 2019 which allowed me to explore the world of technology in San Francisco, one of the largest focal points of technology in the nation. As soon as I heard about what this conference I immediately knew that this would be yet another great opportunity that would advance my career immensely.

            This conference was focused on women in computing meaning that it would be a great way to be able to meet high achieving women in the tech industry, something that is rare to find considering the gender imbalance in STEM. The amount of opportunities that are available at this conference were amazing because they offered a variety of platforms to get educated such as workshops, panels, career fairs, and resume reviews.

            One of my favorite moments that I experienced was when I was pitching myself to recruiters to companies that I was genuinely interested like Groupon, Snapchat, and Eventbrite. It was great getting practice networking with these amazing companies because it’s an experience that is rare to find on a regular basis. Additionally, I was able to make true connections with these companies being that we even connected on Linkedin, creating future relationships that will allow me to flourish in the field. Some of these companies like Activision, were able to actually offer me opportunities once I am eligible to apply as a junior in college. This was extremely exciting to hear because I truly am interested in working in that company

            This experience allowed me to get in touch with some of the biggest companies and allowed for my name and face to be recognizable by the top recruiters of the nation. The most valuable feeling was that I was being seen as a technologist rather than a woman in technology, something I know is a common issue for several women in the tech industry. I gained so much empowerment due to being surrounded by amazing women and I left the conference inspired to make strides of my own to become a top technologist.

This was also the first time I have visited Detroit. It seems like Detroit was built on innovation – I had the opportunity of staying next to all the headquarters like Deloitte and General Motors and it seems like this Summit is a good way of resurging that entrepreneurial spirit – Detroit felt like a space where ideas can be cultivated and developed to eventually change the world. I feel like most people in my age range want to do good for their communities and some of it comes from the fear of what the future will look like, but I’d like to say that it really comes down to our passion. Not to mention, support is an important element in this equation. In other words, it is very refreshing to know that there are spaces that encourage us to do these empowering things, and most importantly together. I was able to meet investors and business professionals from across the globe. They shared their ideas and gave feedback on how to start my own business as an entrepreneur.

In October, I attended the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Detroit as an Under 30 Scholar. Needless to say, it was a conference unlike anything I have ever experienced! The event featured professional development workshops, community service opportunities and a roster of star-studded speakers. My favorite speaker was Serena Williams. She spoke about her legacy, not just as an athlete, but as a businesswoman and entrepreneur. I also saw Kevin Durant speak. It was really refreshing, as a minority student, to interact with and see extremely successful people that look like me. This experience was the most motivating and humbling opportunity. Meeting a variety of forward-thinking individuals was exciting – If anything, one of the biggest takeaways of the Summit was how being authentic and uncompromising to yourself and values is so important. As an undergraduate student, I can’t help but wonder sometimes “why am I working so hard?” but being at the Forbes Under 30 Summit gave me reassurance that all of this hard work has not been a waste. Connecting with other amazing individuals and other motivated Under 30 Scholars really showed we all come from different walks of life and we truly all are trying to make this world a better place. This conference was able to bring people with bright ideas, but also plans to execute them. You could feel the ambition in the room each day.