SUMMER

CLASSES:

HONORS 384: Foreign Study
JSIS 396: Study Abroad Latin America

EXTRACURRICULARS:

Research Assistant
UAA Peer Adviser

Jean Monnet EU Center position

Summer was BUSY. I wrapped up Spring quarter and started working as a student assistant for the Jean Monnet Center, a UW center funded by the European Union as part of Dr. Lang’s appointment as the Jean Monnet chair. Dr. Lang offered me the position as an extension of my role researching with her, and this was incredible because it was paid! This was my first "job" that I held while being a student. I worked on updating the resources and civil society and inclusion efforts that are featured on the UW Jean Monnet Center website. This was my first professional exposure to EU parliamentary proceedings, and was a great opportunity.

Peru

In late June I packed my bags and headed to Peru through an honors study abroad. The group was small, only 13 students, led by Dr. Megan McCloskey and former-UW employee Carolyn Bain. The program focused on human rights in various capacities, we mainly focused on disability rights and indigenous rights. We partnered with the organization Paz y Esperanza, which is local to Peru, and was formed in the aftermath of the war in the country. The first part of our program was spent in Lima, where we toured museums, memorials, neighborhoods, and art studios meeting with folks who were activists and/or personally affected by the war. In the middle of the program we flew to Moyobamba and spent time in the jungle region of Peru, traveling to Tarapoto and Chazuta. We met with indigenous leaders, and persons with disabilities to see how their barriers were different than in urban parts. My personal highlight of the jungle leg was visiting a school for deaf children, and learning to use a machete in order to landscape their yard. The children then made us “juane” , a regional dish served in a banana leaf. Our time in Peru culminated in writing and presenting a report for Paz y Esperanza, for which we interviewed women in Spanish and wrote up their experiences in order to detail what barriers marginalized women in Peru face in starting and maintaining businesses. My time in Peru improved my Spanish, introduced me to a great group of students, and began my relationship with Dr. McCloskey. The lessons learned in Peru had a great impact on the rest of my academic career.

UAA

When I returned to Seattle, I started my job as a Peer Advisor for UW’s Undergraduate Academic Affairs office. This position felt like a natural extension of the work I had done as an honors peer educator, evidenced even by the fact that three of my coworkers were in the same peer educators cohort as me! I was able to work with Reagan, Jamie, and Kaytlin, and we acknowledged constantly the extent to which being honors peer educators prepared us for our current role. As a Peer Advisor, I worked in-person in Mary Gates hall, and met one-on-one with undergraduate students to answer their array of questions. I had a lot to learn right off the bat, as peer advising involved memorizing policies and procedures in a way that peer educating had not. I found myself missing the personal relationships that formed as a result of being a peer educator, as those were certainly lacking from my time as a peer advisor.