March 10, 2023
As a little girl, I was immersed in the world of agronomy and natural sciences. Working and living on my family’s farm in Poland each summer gave me a real insight into what it takes to harvest and plant crops. With hard labor and ideal environmental conditions, any vegetation can thrive, but climate change and inadequate resource management threaten the prosperity of nature and consequently, humanity.
In my most recent experiences in Poland, it was disheartening to see the evidence of drought as a result of climate change. When I was a child, some of my best memories were playing in a treehouse that my cousins and I built. The tree we chose was in a pasture that had a stream running below. In the past five years, the stream has progressively dried up and all that is left is cracked and unsaturated soil. As I witnessed the severe decrease of the quantity and quality of water in Poland, I grew passionate about environmental science and became inspired to enter the conservation field.
Brazil was previously one of the main global leaders in combating climate change, however, the country is now one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation. This year, I began learning Portuguese at an advanced level at Wesleyan University. My interest in Brazilian culture and ecosystems flourished to the point where I decided to apply to the Middlebury C.V. Starr Schools Abroad to immerse myself in a Brazilian community. The program I chose is in Florianópolis, which is an island facing the impacts of climate change and inadequate water management every day. These citizens have insufficient access to safe drinking water and water treatment facilities. However, Brazil is reported to have the largest quantity of renewable freshwater resources out of every country. Indicating there is no reason why millions of Brazilian citizens are suffering from water quality and scarcity in their daily lives.
While I am abroad, Middlebury requires an internship with NGOs in Brazil, and I plan on working with the Instituto Baía de Guanabara. This NGO is dedicated to researching and implementing solutions to improve water quality and sanitation for the nearby residents. The bay is near Rio de Janeiro and caters to a densely populated area, so it is necessary to improve the water quality to benefit the lives of millions of people. To further progress their efforts, I will utilize the skills I acquired from my environmental remediation and hydrology courses. In addition to my previous experience working with Litro de Luz, A NGO based in Brazil devoted to reducing plastic pollution while improving the lives of underrepresented communities.
Furthermore, this summer I will intern at the Iracambi Research Center located in the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil. I will be partaking in their Forest4Water program, which involves promoting groundwater retention and combating water scarcity via natural resource management. This program will allow me to perform research that will prepare me to be a successful scholar abroad. Along with the fieldwork, I will practice my Portuguese with climate professionals, allowing me to learn the necessary vocabulary for studying environmental science at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.
The university in Florianópolis is considered one of the best universities in Latin America. They have multiple departments that directly relate to my future career in natural resource management that are not offered at my current university. Following my internship in the Atlantic Rainforest, I will take classes in the forest engineering department to strengthen my knowledge of forest management and biodiversity. Through their agronomy department, I will advance my knowledge of vegetation resilience, environmental conservation, and agricultural management to promote water retention. Additionally, along with my internship during the semester, I will enroll in courses in the sanitary and environmental engineering department that will deepen my professional understanding of water supply systems, management, and remediation, while learning the methodologies for monitoring, controlling, and improving the quality of any environment.
As an earth and environmental science major with a minor in global engagement, my time at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina is the ideal combination of academia and cultural immersion. Along with my internship and course load, I am required to sign the Middlebury Language Pledge. This document obliges me to speak Portuguese for the entire semester and to refrain from speaking in English at all times. I am excited to partake in this pledge because I will live with a host family and hope to develop a long-lasting and positive relationship with them through conversation. However, I am worried about communicating effectively because I only began learning Portuguese this year. My conversational skills will be the most difficult challenge I face abroad, but it will not be my first time immersing myself in a culture and language I am not proficient in. By growing up with non-English speaking parents, my acquisition of the English language was slower than my American peers. Over time and practice, I became fluent by asking for help and reaching out for support. Therefore, I will overcome the challenge of speaking Portuguese the same way I overcame the challenge of speaking English, with resilience, assistance, and determination.
The Middlebury C.V. Starr School Abroad in Florianópolis fulfills all my aspirations for studying abroad while developing the skills I need for my profession. I will spend my time working with an organization to remedy and manage a watershed that provides thousands of people with clean water. I will discuss water supply and climate change issues with my host family, students, professors, and locals while studying natural resource management at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. In addition, the Language Pledge will ensure my acquisition and long-term retention of the Portuguese language in all mediums, which I consider very valuable because I aspire to work in Brazil in the future.
