Julie Fry, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

Fry uses her scholarly research about air pollution and climate change to inform  the larger community. In addition to being a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, she has presented about atmospheric science and climate change to Downtown Fellowship, 350.org rally, and the Portland section of the American Chemical Society. Fry has also written editorials on climate science for the Oregonian and has helped to develop a Science On A Sphere exhibit on nitrogen oxides at OMSI, which incorporated satellite maps from a student’s thesis project. She expects that these beyond-the-academy ways of communicating environmental science will inform the new interdisciplinary course in Environmental Studies. Fry encourages Reedies to become involved in projects that they feel passionate about and that are the “right size” for their schedule, so that their volunteer commitments renew and excite them rather than add undue stress to their lives.

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Erika Winton, English, Class of 1995

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

Winton is the Associate Director for the Foundation and Corporate Giving at the Conservation Lands Foundation. The organization strives to protect, restore, and expand Conservation Lands through education, advocacy, and partnerships.

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Emily Crotteau, Biology-Math, Class of 2013

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

Crotteau is the Environmental Intern for SEEDS. She coordinates weekend service projects that provide opportunities for students to get involved in habitat restoration and urban farming, and to learn about local waterways, ecosystems and environmental projects throughout Portland. Crotteau says, “These projects bring students into direct contact with the land, and offer a great way to meet and connect with other Reed students and the wider Portland community. Rain or shine, my work celebrates being outdoors.” Crotteau says she values being able to share the work she loves with other people while continuing to learn about environmental endeavors happening in Portland. She is also beginning to develop a free online gardening program, which she hopes will empower more people to create home gardens and will increase food self-sufficiency.

Crotteau also also volunteered at Oaks Bottom with Sue Thomas since her freshman year in a variety of ways, from planting trees to conducting amphibian surveys. Crotteau said, “What’s awesome about Sue is the thoughtfulness and sense of perspective she brings to the work she does. For instance, her work is by definition focused on environmental restoration, but rather than cordoning off ‘the environment’ in some pristine, inaccessible box, she actively searches for ways to make it engaging and participatory for people, especially for children.” Crotteau hopes that other Reed students will join her and help contribute to Thomas’s work. (see entry on Sue Thomas)

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Audrey Augenbraum, Undecided, Class of 2014

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

In the summer of 2011, Augenbraum interned with the Environmental and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) based in Kathmandu, Nepal after having worked in Nepal the previous three summers. ENPHO is committed to creating eco-societies by implementing community-based initiatives that build and manage sustainable water supply systems in remote areas with poor access to water. Augenbraum collected information for ENPHO’s Water and Sanitation Reference Center and helped disseminate technologies and research to the communities of the Dhulikhel area. She says, “ENPHO’s field work helps these communities to allocate their own resources in spite of a central government that does not have the capability to provide these services. I believe that is the only reasonable way to effectively allocate resources within a tumultuous political climate such as Nepal’s.”

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Suraj Pant, Economics, Class of 2011

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

In the summer of 2011, Pant established a computer lab at JanaKalyan Madhyamik Vidyalaya, a high school founded in part by his grandfather and the only high school in Hungi, a remote village in Western Nepal. The lab is furnished with ten computers and Internet facilities for the students and teachers of the school. Outside of school hours, the lab generates income to cover maintenance costs and serve the wider community by offering computer literacy courses and renting time for Internet usage. The lab hopes to equip students with computing skills and to increase their access to learning resources and information.

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Sunny Yang, Sociology, Class of 2014

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

In the summer of 2001, Yang was a Summer VISTA member with AmeriCorps for 9th Grade Transition Academy in Portland which assists entering 9th graders who are not at the same literacy and math levels as their peers. Yang worked as a teacher’s assistant, a tutor, and a mentor in the classroom. “My involvement with AmeriCorps and the field of education are greatly valuable to me because the experience exposed me to the most fundamental element of education: personal interactions with students and being involved in their lives,” she says.

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Sandesh Adhikary, Physics, Class of 2015 & Aashis Thapa, Biology, Class of 2015

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

Adhikary and Thapa will be interning at Young Yatri Organization in the initiation phase of its Open School Initiative Nepal (OSI Nepal) Project, which will be creating a wiki-based web archive comprising of digitized textbooks, video lectures and numerous other educational tools in order to foster a collaborative and open educational environment in Nepal. They will be working with fellow volunteers, students, teachers and other education enthusiasts in order to generate high quality educational content to serve as a supplement, or even a substitute, to the available inadequate educational resources available to a majority of students, especially in the rural parts of the country. Adhikary and Thapa’s project focuses primarily on creating content for a tenth grade curriculum. The two are extremely excited about this opportunity and write, “We look forward to helping generate high quality educational content and, with the aid of open source technology, transform it into a dynamic and continuously evolving educational asset.”

 

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Ryanne Fujita-Conrads, Sociology, Class of 2012

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

A recipient of the McGill Lawrence Summer Internship Awards, Fujita-Conrads will be spending the summer in La Manzanilla, Mexico, interning with La Catalina Educational Foundation (LCEF). LCEF is a community-based Mexican non-profit dedicated to providing literacy, education, and professional development services to the people of La Manzanilla. Through a collaborative effort with the community, LCEF offers English and mathematics classes, business training, student scholarships, special needs tutoring, and funding for public school projects. In this way, LCEF works to empower community members through literacy and education to take advantage of newly arising economic opportunities. As an intern, Fujita-Conrads will support this mission by teaching English at the local public school for kindergarten, elementary, and middle school kids, as well as free English classes for adults. She will also be responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing the LCEF kids summer Art and English program. Fujita-Conrads hopes her presence and work in La Manzanilla will be especially helpful in the self-empowerment of young girls, who have a significantly higher high school drop-out rate in La Manzanilla than their male classmates. She writes, “By investing my sociological background and teaching skills in the community of La Manzanilla, I hope to advance the development of lasting social capital, which will not only empower current residents in the community, but also help generations to come.”

 

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Patrick Taylor, Sociology, Class of 2012

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

In the summer of 2011, Taylor interned with AmeriCorps VISTA, teaching and mentoring 9th grade summer students at the Oregon Campus Compact at Parkrose High

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Pancho Savery, Professor, English & Humanities

Posted on August 30, 2012 by SEEDS

For the last eleven years in a row, Savery has taught sections of a course entitled “Humanity in Perspective.” A collaboration between Oregon Humanities and Reed faculty, “Humanity in Perspective” is a year-long humanities course offered for free to adults who face financial hardship and who do not have a college degree. Savery explains, “There are students in the class who are 18 and there are others who are 70. Either way, they bring their lives into the classroom.” Texts range from ancient Greek and Roman classics, to the Declaration of Independence, to modern day American literature. Savery believes that this course helps students think more articulately about ideas, which in turn allows them to more fully participate in the democratic process and to make their voices, as marginalized citizens of this country, finally heard.

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