Discovery
Gratitude and Drive.
When I started grad school at UW, I didn’t have a computer or even know the difference between a ‘bcc’ and a ‘cc’ on an email (I found this out quickly and not in a way I would like to repeat).
Over the last 1.5 years of scholarship, I have thrown myself into the academic community after being separate from it for ten years. My time at UW has been characterized by gratitude and a deeply personal drive to make the most of my time here. I am eternally grateful to the UW Center for Human Rights, UW EarthLab, the Future Rivers Program, and the UW Center for Environmental Health Equity (UW CEHE) for supporting me through this journey. To have the opportunity to chart a new path based on justice, passion, care, and connecting people to their environments is an evolving gift that carries me through all the late nights and early mornings, all the struggles and all the setbacks.
Community-based research often has no clear path forward. Words are woefully inadequate to explain the stories behind this.
To serve the community partners I work with I have rewritten my entire thesis proposal at least three times, went through IRB review twice, and written more funding proposals than I can count. While stressful at points, the result is a project that resonates deeply with those who it affects the most. Every time I see a student’s smile, every time I watch a teacher get excited, it is all worth it.
Water carries us all. Gathering awareness, movement—change is constant. I thrive in the unfamiliar, supporting and uplifting others. My work is not nearly as important as how I do it.