Name: Mikaela Disbennett
Type of Project: Study Abroad
- Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
For my STEP signature project I participated in a study abroad to Costa Rica in which I learned a great deal about environmental sustainability through class work and a variety of in country activities. While in Costa Rica my group was able to explore the country’s different rainforests and volcanoes, visit multiple plantations that grew coffee beans, cocoa beans, and various fruits, and observe several of the ways the locals use renewable energy through both wind farms and hydroelectricity. Through each of these experiences our guide led discussions on how the country is striving to conserve their natural environment and find ways to coexist with nature in the most ecologically sustainable way possible.
- What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.
Spending time in another country where I was able to experience a new language, culture, and completely different way of living really allowed me to reflect on the way I live my life and the way I had until then perceived the world around me. Comparing my culture to that of another country’s allowed me to look at my life from a different perspective, sort of an outside view if you will. Studying in Costa Rica where the general population is much poorer than that of the area I was raised in, allowed me to realize how materialistic the culture that I have grown up in is. We tend to base so much of our worth upon our possessions like flashy cars, stylish clothes, and nice homes. Living among the Costa Rican natives, experiencing their culture, and learning about their values made me really think about how the perception of a person’s self worth can change in the context of different cultures. Looking at their views and comparing them to my own caused me to redefine my personal idea of self worth and made me want to change my lifestyle to fit this new definition.
While my project changed the way I viewed myself it also transformed my view of the world and cleared up some hazing assumptions I had made about it. Being that this experience was the first time I had ever left the country, I previously assumed that the majority of the countries in the North and South American continents functioned the same way the United States does. I believed that they all met the same standards of civilization, had similar types of government and education systems, and held similar values. It only took a brief time in Coast Rica to show me just how wrong these assumptions were. My project allowed me to see how extremely different the world outside my doorstep could be by introducing me to a new culture, life style, and outlook on the future of our planet.
- What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you?Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.
While studying abroad in Costa Rica three key things led to the transformation of myself and my understanding of the world we live in. These things were the interactions we had with the locals, the relationship our group had with our tour guide, and the introduction to and later familiarization with ecotourism. The first of these experiences that led to a transformation in how I saw myself and the world round me was the interactions we had with the local people. Whether it was in shops, tourist destinations, restaurants, or even just around the community each interaction proved to me just how incredibly different our two cultures were. The Costa Rican people are generally a lot poorer than people in the United States; they don’t have fancy cars or large houses, and most of them own only a few nicer outfits rather than the complete wardrobe you’d find in the closet of an American. While this was the case they were still very humble and kind, and were instilled with a great sense of community and national pride. Costa Rica and its people don’t place a lot of worth on materialistic things but rather on the natural beauty of their country. For instance instead of using their land to build a larger home or to make a yard to show off, they would build a home that met their basic needs and would preserve the rest of the land in its natural manner. The same with their energy sources, instead of having large coal power plants that could provide jobs and bring their country revenue they instead power the entire country off of the renewable energy of wind and hydroelectricity. Seeing how incredibly unwasteful they are with their land and their resources and learning that they define a person’s self worth not upon what they have but how they care for our planet really caused me rethink the way I should be living my life and made me reconsider the way I imagined most people lived theirs.
The second key interaction during my STEP project consisted of my group’s relationship with our tour guide and the information he shared with us. This interaction in particular led to a transformation not only in my assumptions about how people in the Americas live but also how the world takes on the idea of environmental sustainability. While abroad our guide, Gustavo, stayed with us for the duration of our trip. This gave our group the opportunity to feel more comfortable around him which encouraged us to ask him a lot of questions about the lifestyle of the country’s people, their government and education systems, and the way they have been striving for environmental sustainability. Through the many questions and his honest answers I was surprised to learn how different their culture and society was. For example their schooling system is very different from that of the United States; many towns had one room school building that consisted of one teacher teaching grades k-8, they would then travel to the larger cities for high school and for many any schooling past high school wasn’t really an option. Hearing this made me realize incredibly lucky I have been to grow up in a society where education is so widely available. Speaking with Gustavo it also became very apparent how differently our two countries look at environmental sustainability. In the United Stated it seems like we focus more on building our civilization than on preserving the land and resources that support it, where as Costa Rica dictates a lot of the way it functions around preserving and protecting the environment, its resources, and biodiversity. Seeing how much their country cares for nature and pulls its national pride from their efforts to preserve it gave me a lot of hope for our planet and what other countries may be doing to fuel the same cause.
The third key thing that led to a transformation in how I viewed the world was the introduction to ecotourism. Ecotourism provides a way for locals to make money by sharing their country’s natural beauty with travelers who come there to visit. For it to be successful though, the natives must carefully preserve their environment. Throughout the trip we participated in many different ecotourism activities from zip lining, to horseback riding, and many different expeditions through various types of rain forests. Seeing how the Costa Rican people tied their strong will to keep their forests and biodiversity safe to a revenue bearing activity showed just how perfectly environmental sustainability can work. They found a way to sustain their own lives through the income while still preserving their forests. While this showed me how hard people are working around the world to preserve our planet it also made me realize how little the United States is doing towards the same cause. This combination of the interactions, relationships, and experiences I had while studying abroad made me self reflect and want to become the type of person who bases more of my self-worth on what I am doing to give back to the world and less of it on my show of material things. It also made me realize that unlike I had originally perceived many countries within the Americas function very differently from one another, centering their actions on various cultural beliefs.
- Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.
Seeing this transformation in both myself and my idea of the world made me realize how much of the world I have yet to discover and that as time continues my new experiences will continue shape me into a better more rounded individual. It has made me a lot more culturally aware and has influenced me to want to explore more cultures and countries outside of my own. Not only these things, but being able to see the world through a new lens in which selfless people cared so strongly for not only their country but our planet as a whole strengthened my passion for wanting to work in a field that ties to environmental and species conservation. It gave me hope that there are people out there in the world, whole countries in fact that are passionate about the same things as me. This has influenced me to want to start a career here where I can share these same ideas and passions with the people of the United States in hopes that we can someday measure up to the work Costa Rica is doing. This amazing opportunity to complete a project I was so passionate about has opened my eyes to a world of new possibilities for which I will forever be grateful.