Global Experiences

Global Campus Activities

During my time at UF, I've had many meaningful moments happen on campus and in the surrounding communities. I've had the chance to take part in several campus events that brought together science, culture, and global perspectives. I attended discussions about urban development in Europe where I learned how nature-based solutions can look very different across countries, and how EU leaders are improving legislation, knowledge, and financing to make coexistence with wildlife possible. That connected deeply with my goal of becoming a wildlife biologist who collaborates internationally, since I believe the EU models effective cohabitation between people and nature that could inspire similar efforts in the U.S. I also explored my Hispanic heritage by learning salsa and bachata through UF Gator Salsa and creating my own mola design inspired by South and Central American art. Another event on AI and U.S. national security opened my eyes to the global influence of technology, showing how AI systems shape decision-making both in defense and conservation fields. Finally, learning about Afrofuturism helped me see how art, fashion, and culture can influence environmental values and youth empowerment. These experiences pushed me out of my comfort zone by encouraging me to speak with people from all over the world and discuss difficult topics in creative ways. They reminded me that conservation and cultural understanding go hand in hand and strengthened my motivation to keep joining global and intercultural initiatives that connect people, science, and the environment.

Language Learning

Spanish has always been a part of my life, but studying and using it to make a difference at UF and while abroad has changed what it means to me. Rather than just seeing it as a family language, I now see Spanish as a tool for building deeper relationships and doing more inclusive conservation work. Here in the US, being able to switch between English and Spanish has completely changed the way I interact with classmates, mentors, and community members. This is especially useful when we're talking about stuff like immigration, environmental justice, or access to outdoor spaces. It gives me a way to connect with people who might not feel as comfortable participating in science if it's all in English. My time in Costa Rica made that clear. Just using Spanish in my daily life, like using it to order food, ask questions on field sites, or listen to local staff explain where we were. It gave me a much more grounded sense of how language and culture shape people’s relationships to the environment. When we'd go to farms or research stations, I noticed how the conversations just got so much richer when I could ask follow-up questions in Spanish instead of having to rely on quick translations. In the future, I hope to keep using Spanish in fieldwork, outreach, and research partnerships across Latin America, and possibly to add another language that can open doors for collaboration.

International Coursework

My most impactful international academic experience to date has been the UF study abroad course in Costa Rica on the subject of plants and people in the Anthropocene. The class combined lectures with hands-on field exercises and an independent research project to delve into how tropical ecosystems function and how human decisions like farming practices and conservation policies shape those systems. Being out in the field almost every single day, going between experimental plots, coffee farms, and forested reserves, made all those concepts like ecosystem services and land use change feel immediate and real. For our big project, my group set out to figure out how coffee leaf rust affects leaf function in different coffee varieties by measuring stomatal conductance under different conditions. Designing the study, traveling with equipment in the humid weather, and making sure to collect consistent data in a tight time frame were some challenges encountered. Then, turning all those raw numbers into a poster made me analyze the data and assess what was accurate and what might just be a sampling error. I found it nerve-wracking to present the poster to my instructors and local researchers, but also exciting since this was the first time I felt like my work was going to make a meaningful contribution to the conversation about crop health and climate stress in a place where coffee has high value. This course connected well with the broader training I'm getting in wildlife ecology, entomology, and geospatial analysis. It showed me firsthand how all the methods I'm learning on UF's campus, from statistical analysis to mapping and field surveys, can actually be applied to real questions that have a real impact on communities in other countries. It also set the stage for later work with camera traps and international datasets, and now I find myself thinking a lot more about how data gets collected and whose priorities were driving the research questions. Overall, the coursework in Costa Rica convinced me that I want to have a career that brings international collaboration, fieldwork, and quantitative analysis all together.