A Year in the Life: Development Lessons from Long Way Home

If you ever wondered what impact interns have on their internship sites, and in turn on the local community, look no further than the example of Long Way Home in Guatemala.  The following is a letter from Mateo Paneitz of LWH outlining the achievements of 2007, lessons in culturally sensitive development work, and the groups priorities for 2008.

Photos of Long Way Home and Guatemala by Rosie Richards, intern

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“Long Way Hombres,
It has been a while since i have written an email reporting on our project, Parque Chimiya.  The reason that i haven’t written is because we had such a busy and productive 2007.

January: We installed water and electricity throughout the park through a grant with Engineers Without Borders.
February/March: We built a 50ft x 100ft concrete basketball court.  It took 8 guys all of february to dig the site out and in March we poured 500 bags of cement on four seperate pour days.  All done by hand all by volunteers.  It is our pride and joy!
April/May/June: We built an outdoor classroom which is part of the nature trail.  This area is used for demonstrations, meetings, workshops, theatre, and concerts.
June-September: We had 6 university interns in our program.  With this group we spent most of our time working with primary school kids.  The interns taught history, geology, math, science, soccer, basketball, and organic gardening all using the resource that is the park. These are also the months that we really made our Botanical garden a feature of the park rather than an eyesore.
September-November: We built a 100ft long x 6ft tall retaining wall at the entrance of the park.  This was by far the most difficult job undertaken.  River stone is realy really heavy and of course we mix all of our morter by hand.
December: We started about 10,000 pine saplings in bags in our tree nursery.  These trees are being cared for until the June rains when we will sell them for 1Q per tree.

Some attendance numbers:
Pre-2005: 50 people per year
2006: 9000 people
2007: 18,000 people
2008: 5000 people so far this year

The park is sustainable:  We earn enough money through the volunteer program to pay for the staff.  We earn enough income through entrance fees and micro enterprises to pay for the electricity bill, one full time caretaker, and several part-time jobs throughout the year.

Our initial idea for the park was to build sports programs for the youth.  Over the course of building the park and living in the community, we learned that doesn’t work in Guatemala because kids here go to work after school.  Youth sports programs are just not a luxury they can afford.  At the same time that the schools were not responding very well to the sports programs the same schools were using the park but in their own way.  So we have stepped back with the suggested programming and just let the people use the park how they want to.

For the development workers the park is a tremendous lesson.  As development workers we tend to think that Guatemalans should adapt to our projects….the park taught us to adapt the projects to the poor.  That is why as development workers we know the importance of living in the country we are serving.

The first three years of the park building was also a time to build and fortify LWH as a structured and organized non profit that provides a needed public service.  Our current Board of Directors is very involved with every aspect of LWH’s operations.  We have a Board development committee, a fundraising committee, a planning committee, and a budgeting committee.  This Board exists because you guys gave them something to manage.  When we started LWH and our C.A. endeavor our Board members were all starting law schools and MBA programs…by now we have an experienced professional Board of Directors capable of managing LWH various projects and programs.

In addition to the park we are:

Re-equiping, re-administrating, and eventually re-opening the public hospital.
Providing water for 2 villages (about 6000 people)
Providing water for urban Comalapa (about 20,000)
Providing improved cooking stoves
Providing volunteer jobs for 266 volunteers so far

In February 2005 a teacher from one of the schools in Comalapa invited me to teach at their school.  I started going to the school two days a week and they were coming to the park one day a week.  This school left a lasting impression on me and how i want to create sustainability in all of our projects.  Imagine a school for the poorest of the poor with no state funding.  The teachers had not been paid in six months, no electricity, no water, no chairs, and nobody at the school was complaining about anything.

Of course, this gets our project engines running.  How can we build a school and operate it that doesnt depend on state funds?  In the third world, the answer is charging the students a monthly fee.  So how do you get the poorest of the poor a good education?

First of all, there is no education in Comalapa past the 8th grade.  For a town of 39,000 that is a travesty.  Our idea is to create an educational instution that combines higher education, vocational technologies, appropriate technologies, conservation, micro enterprises, with the standard curriculum for students from K – High School.   Last week, after 9 months of searching, we found the perfect property for the school.  The property is close to town, visible from the park, just the right size, and just the right price.

All of our construction will be out of rammed earth tires and trash we collect in the schools so that every dime goes as far as it can and at the same time we can share these building tecniques with the community.

Sorry this email is soooo long….i just want to give the best explanation possible.

Once again, thank you a million times for your contribution to the park and to LWH´s overall development because of it.   If you have any questions or comments please let me know what you think.

Sincerely,

Mateo

First Day on the Job at Obzside Adventure Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

by Kate Fleming

The first day of my internship was exciting, yet stressful.  I got to work that morning hardly knowing what to expect and left that afternoon with my first project successfully completed…victory! I first met with Sean, my boss, who oriented me to the office, and told me what was expected of me.  Then he put me straight to work. I was in charge of going to backpackers’ hotels and hostels all throughout Cape Town and talking with them to make sure the backpackers book their scuba adventures through Obzside.
So, on my first day, my project was to make a display for the brochures. Sean showed me my computer and told me to get to work…I sat there staring at a blank screen for a solid twenty minutes considering why I didn’t brush up on my Photoshop skills before I came to work… “Oh, THAT’S right….I have NEVER USED Photoshop!” Sean nonchalantly mentioned that he thought it would be nice if the project was completed by this afternoon, and so there I was again having an “oh s*** I am in Africa” moment… feeling lost, beads of sweat starting to form on my upper lip, and looking at the plain white, empty document gazing back at me from the computer screen, when all of a sudden, another employee asked if I wanted to go catch some lunch. I think I was out the door before he even finished the question. I am sure he thought I was the fat girl who had only been in the office for an hour and already jetted for the door when there was mention of “food” …but oh well…I wasn’t going to get anything done sitting at that desk, might as well have a scrumptious snack to kick start my brain-right?
     Well, I got back from my lunch break and got to work, starting to push and play with random buttons in Photoshop and decided to use a combination of old Obzside projects from the computer AND my creative juices. As it turned out, I finished the brochure display by 4:30 pm and was very happy with the work.  I started that first day feeling completely ill-prepared and under qualified, and now I am leaving this organization with a full portfolio of Photoshop projects and a lot more confidence.
     When I first arrived I was little hazy on how I could make an impact at Obzside Scuba Diving Club because it seemed to be a perfectly functioning business. But after about a week of going to meetings, observing, and talking to other employees I realized there were many things in the organization that needed improvement. I thought my ideas to fix these problems were relatively simple, but when I presented them to my boss, he was shocked at how “right on” my suggestions were. I think that just being an outsider gave me an advantage. They had been struggling with a brochure for months, but all they needed were fresh eyes and an outsider’s new perspective to make it a success. I also think that coming from the US I have a different perspective on the business environment, so my international ideas paired with their knowledge of South African business flourished into a recipe for success.
     The most important benefit of my internship has been to gain real life experience in a business environment. This has been my first internship and it was not what I had expected. I was unaware how much work interns were expected to do, but I rose to the challenge and am so thankful I was out in the business world working hand in hand with business executives and not that girl in the office making copies and serving coffee. Even more important than just gaining real life experience has been doing it abroad. I feel now that if I can survive in the South African business environment, I can survive anywhere. I not only had to move across the world alone, adapt to culture differences in both the social and business environments, and make new friends, but I had to work. On the professional level I have flourished. I am confident when speaking with people at higher levels than I am, and I no longer look to Sean for approval with everything I do. And through this professional development I have acquired several positive personal skills: I have become sovereign, self-assured, and have gained more experience in 3 months than most people do in 3 years.

 

Teaching – and Learning – in Guadalajara

by Lauren Shick, OSU intern at Francis Bacon School in Guadalajara, Mexico for winter 2008 term

     When I arrived at Francis Bacon School, I was overwhelmed with excitement. I had been anticipating that first day for months. I first met with Ms. Betty Ann, the English coordinator of the school. She gave me my daily schedule and showed me around the school. She had a meeting during the morning that day, so she introduced me to Silvia, the English Aide. I immediately loved Silvia. We had a great connection and she was a very welcoming person. She took me around to each of the classrooms and introduced me to the teachers and the students, which I thought was really nice of her. For the rest of the day, I helped her in the teacher’s room repairing books and completing miscellaneous tasks. I remember being very excited to get to working in the classrooms on the following Monday.
      Ms. Betty Ann said although I had requested to work with the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade classrooms, she wanted me to see each of the grades, which ended up being a great experience because my opinion changed about the grades I originally thought I wanted to teach. 
     My responsibilities at Francis Bacon varied. Teachers would often give me tasks to complete such as assembling and correcting worksheets, reading composition notebooks, finding activities on the internet, preparing supplies, etc. Other days I would read aloud, read with lower level readers, and lead math or spelling activities. I substituted for different grades as well as practiced with the Spelling Bee contestants from each grade. I always tried my best to be dependable, responsible, and efficient when completing tasks for the teachers at Francis Bacon.
     My favorite part of working at Francis Bacon was when I was given the opportunity to prepare and teach my own lessons. My lessons included reading about Martin Luther King, teaching comparative adjectives to 5th and 6th grade, teaching verbs to 5th and 6th, teaching ABC order and a dictionary activity to 1st, and a lesson on Presidents Washington and Lincoln to all grades. For me these were the most educational and fun days. During each lesson, I felt like I was in my element. I always felt happy and comfortable in the classroom, and successful after. My lesson on verbs was my favorite because it was an interactive PowerPoint-like presentation for the SMART board the school has. Ms. Angie was very complimentary of my work and I felt proud!
      The support from the people at the school as well as my host families was amazing. Everyone always assured me that they would be there for me if I needed anything. I immediately formed a close relationship with Silvia. She asked me questions about my life, family, etc. and we talked about anything and everything each day I was at Francis Bacon. She was a great source of comfort and a great listener if I was having a difficult day. I felt like she was my temporary Mom while I was there. It was definitely nice to have someone to talk to freely and in English everyday.
     Throughout the internship, my successes were definitely mixed in with challenges. My first challenge was adapting to fact that English is the students’ second language. At first I would attempt to explain something in my normal language, immediately realizing when I saw the students’ blank looks that I would need to simplify my language much more.  Culturally, I felt like the classroom atmosphere was much different than the classrooms I have observed in the United States. The students talk constantly. While substituting was the most difficult challenge at Francis Bacon, it was also one of the most valuable experiences because I learned classroom management and discipline skills first hand. In addition, this was the time when I got to know the students and bonded with them.
     Both personally and professionally, the internship taught me skills that I know I will carry with me in my future as a teacher. My experience in the classroom gave me a greater sense of confidence as well as techniques important for teaching that I could not possibly learn in a course at Oregon State. Being faced with challenges and minor bumps throughout the internship gave me a glimpse into what being a teacher is like. Most importantly, I learned that I have chosen a career that I love. Personally, the experience was equally valuable. The personal growth that I went through is difficult to describe because I think I benefited from the experience in so many areas. I definitely learned that it is important to be flexible and able to adapt to new situations both professionally and personally.
       Being immersed in a culture different from my own was an interesting experience. The people in Guadalajara were amazingly welcoming, generous, and compassionate. Everyone I met was interested in my life and greeted me with open arms. In addition, the people were extremely interested in the fact that I was from the United States and loved to ask questions about life and culture there. Just talking about life in the United States made me realize how amazing it is. I think being away from my home taught me a greater appreciation for my family, the beautiful state of Oregon, and the all around structure and culture of the United States. Although I was never homesick, describing my family, friends, and home state gave me a sense of pride.
      My language adequacy was worse than expected when I arrived in Guadalajara. However, I quickly learned that most people speak English, but I think that being constantly surrounded by Spanish speakers improved my listening and comprehension skills.  
     Overall, I am so grateful to have had the experience I had in Guadalajara. I was blessed to live with three wonderful families who showed me beautiful parts of Mexico such as Puerto Vallarta and Mazamitla, and whom I will keep in touch with for the rest of my life. I was incredibly lucky to work at a school where I learned many techniques and lessons valuable for my future as a teacher. I never regretted my decision to leave the United States, and I came home with a greater confidence and appreciation for my life at home.

Hiking in the Himalayas

By Alyssa Boesch, on the Rural/Urban Himalayan Rotation in Dehra Dun India

Well, I have now been in India for over a week and I absolutely love it! Than Gaon was a small village in the Himalayan foots as they call it here. I got to work with Dr. Paul who does so much with so little. He hikes up to 5 hours away 2 times a week to treat patients in other villages and the other 3 days people walk from hours away to see him. All the treatment and medication they receive is free due to CFHI (the organization I am here with) providing everything. It was amazing meeting some of the village people and seeing how they live. We did a lot of hiking while we were up there and on Saturday we woke up at 5 to hike 5 1/2 hours to Musoorie at 7,000 ft – 2,500 ft higher than where we were. It was a great hike with great views.

Now I am back in Dehra Dun which is a really busy, hectic city. There is constantly noise from cars honking to cows mooing. It is way different than Than Gaon but it is exciting none the less. This week I will be working with an OBGYN and a pediatrician so I’m pretty excited. I’ll try and put more pictures up later this week. I have also been invited to a wedding this weekend which will be interesting to see! I get to go shopping for a Sari to wear which will also be fun!

Ayacucho Update by Teresa Roark

Dustin and I are finishing up an amazing internship with FINCA Peru Exports in Ayacucho, Peru. FINCA Peru exports is an export business completely run by interns and volunteers. We have gotten the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of trying to start and run a fair trade business. One of our biggest accomplishments has been developing a brand new website which should be up by April 18^th at the absolute latest. You can visit it and see all of the exceptional art that is produced in Ayacucho at http://www.fincaperuexports.org. We have learned a great deal about challenges and rewards that can be found in this area of work.

One of the best parts of the internship has getting to know the artisans we represent. Each one has a story that motivates us to continue the good fight. Most Sundays we eat lunch with Timotea, one of our associates. Next week Dustin and I are going to become the godparents of two of the cutest Peruvian children we have ever met.

Ayacucho is a fascinating and beautiful place. Located in the central highlands of Peru we are surrounded by

impressive rolling mountains. The area is one of the poorest in Peru and was devastated by the Shinning Path guerilla movement of the 1980s. All of the artisans we work with have vivid memories of this time. Hearing what they went through and seeing the hardships they continue to face have had a lasting impression on both of us.

Currently Ayacucho is tranquil and safe. The town is known for its many festivals. We were lucky enough to be here for both the Carnival celebrations as well as Holy Week. Carnival was a particularly memorable experience. FINCA Peru, one of the largest micro finance banks in Peru, invited us to join their “comparsa.” We dressed as traditional “Huamanguinos” and spent an afternoon dancing and singing in a mixture of Spanish and Quechua, the local indigenous language. After a long afternoon we returned to the office to celebrate with a party that lasted well into the night.

Dustin and I have discussed how amazing this experience has been for both of us. We are both in love with Ayacucho and cannot remember a happier time in our lives. We could not ask for more

My Path to Peru by Dustin Cady, FINCA Peru Exports Intern

      On the night of March 21st, 2008, I found myself in a local bus station in the town of Huamanga, in the department of Ayacucho, Perú, waving goodbye to my good friend and fellow international volunteer Jennifer. She had just completed her six-month volunteer experience and was about to be carried away on a Cruz del Sur bus and into her post-Peru life. I could not help but think about what I would feel like when I am in her shoes only a month and a half down the road. It was a goodbye mixed with a number of different feelings. I primarily felt the sadness accompanies saying goodbye to a good friend and older mentor, someone who has been an important part of my life recently and someone who I had grown to respect and count on for advice. Almost as strong as that sadness was a sense of nervousness and anticipation that stirred within because Jennifer’s departure also signaled a new important phase of my experience: I was now in charge of the FINCA Perú Exports project. And with that new responsibility I felt excitement as well.
 March 21st was only two nights ago and the same feelings I felt that night still linger. I have been working for FINCA Perú Exports (FPX) since January 7th and the previous three month’s frustrations and successes have all been preparing me for tomorrow, Monday morning. At twenty-one years old I will be in charge of running every aspect of a start-up, small-scale import/export organization. It is not something I expected I would be in charge of at the beginning of my internship, but something that became apparent soon after I arrived and realized that Jenn would be leaving in late March with me as her replacement.  I knew by the third week of my internship that when March rolled around and Jenn left, the reigns would be mine.
That means for the next month and a half I will plan and run all the meetings with the artisans, be the connection between them and customers abroad, be responsible for running the accounting of the project, creating marketing and promotional materials, maintaining product quality control, fundraising and fulfilling orders. And under each one of those basic responsibilities lie a thousand little tasks that I will get to organize and carry out. It is a responsibility that in January would have seemed daunting and impossible, and while the butterflies still flutter I also know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to leave a positive mark on an organization while benefiting personally as well.

Ayacucho, Exports and Artisans: Why I Am Here
 At the beginning of my internship I often times found myself questioning how I managed to end up thousands of miles away from the University of Oregon campus in a small dark office, in the middle-of-nowhere Perú, trying to succeed at something in which I have no prior experience. Ayacucho is the second poorest region in Perú and one of the most isolated as well; located in the middle of the Peruvian Andes, only 3 tiny passenger planes fly into the airport every day and the 10 hour bus ride to Lima has enough curves and sharp turns to make even the toughest of stomachs cringe. When I first arrived I often used those exotic reminders as motivation to get me through the difficult cultural adjustment and reinforce why I would choose to do something like this. But the novelty of all that has worn off by now and it has become very clear as to why I am here.
 In August 2006 I took a trip to Perú that changed the course of my college career in a number of ways. After I got home from Peru, the following September when school started I immediately changed my major from pre-business to Spanish and international studies. In two brief weeks of traveling through Peru doing community service work and getting a small taste of the culture, I knew that spending more time abroad would enrich not only my academic experience but would be valuable to my career and personal goals as well. That first Peru trip in 2006 included a two day visit to Ayacucho where I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of exactly what it is I am doing here now: working with artisans and trying to export their products abroad. I remember visiting various artisan workshops and watching in awe as they carved with impossibly fine detail different animals and nativity scenes out of huge chunks of alabaster stone. I also recall watching men and women working in dusty rooms filled with looms, weaving and sewing by hand beautiful tapestries and rugs. In a paper I wrote two years ago after getting back from that trip, I say:  “The day I spent in Ayacucho was one of the many highlights of my trip. The meeting we had with HEIFER International, a micro-finance organization that seeks to improve the way of life of local people in struggling communities, opened my eyes to opportunities that I had never previously imagined.  As our group shared ideas with this organization about creating an import/export business with local artisans and art galleries in the United States, a sense of excitement and enthusiasm filled me from within.  What an amazing opportunity that I had never considered:  take the beautifully handcrafted art that these people produce, export it to the United States where rich Americans will spend a fortune on it, and send the profits back to the artisans and their community.  And as we talked about all of this, my awareness continued to grow: I speak Spanish, I am studying business, I love to travel, and helping people brings me lasting joy.  The inspiration that I had searched for all year was revealing itself before my eyes, and the source of that inspiration had not been in my thoughts, but in the world all around me all along.  Wow, I was learning a lot.”

And here I am today in Ayacucho once again, three months into an internship doing exactly what I wrote about two years ago. Obviously my perspective back then on the import/export process was slightly naive and very simplified: finding clients abroad who will pay the high price for a unique piece of art as well as the high price of shipping, actually shipping the product itself and then getting the profits back to the artisan is a complicated process with many steps. But getting to know that process and all of the challenges that accompany it has taught me more than any class I have ever taken, and now being in charge of the project I am about to learn even more. Looking back on my journal gives me the answers to the questions I had about how I ended up here.

This experience has reinforced what I already knew before coming to Peru: in whatever career path I choose there will be an international element. While I am learning a good amount about how to run a small business, my strengths and weaknesses in the business world, and what I enjoy and do not enjoy about an office job, I also learn just as much outside of the workplace. The cross-cultural interactions this experience allows me to have has made all of the challenging moments at work worthwhile.
 

New Internship Offerings in Brazil through IE3/UW Partnership

Press Release: New partnership creates internship opportunities for US university students in Brazil

 

IE₃ Global Internships, a program of the Oregon University System International Programs, and the Center for Brazilian Studies at the University of Washington have formed a unique partnership to promote opportunities for US university students to gain professional experience in Brazil as part of their university education.

 

The Center has recruited several of its contacts in Brazil to host interns. These include Homero Costa Advogados Law Office, Knowtec and The Information Company.  Homero Costa Advogados Law Office in Belo Horizonte in partnership with FUNDAMAR will host US law and pre-law students to exchange knowledge of Brazilian and US law.  Knowtec in Florianópolis hopes to receive interns with strong technical skills to add to their growing competitive intelligence, media monitoring, interactive media and e-learning objectives.  The Information Company strives to develop business relationships between the US and Brazil and hopes to attract interns interested in working both in their Seattle office and their São Paolo office to broaden their international business experience. 

 

According to Monya Lemery, IE₃ Global Internships Latin America Director, “We are very excited to promote cultural exchange with Brazil and open up opportunities for strengthening ties between Brazil and the Northwestern region of the US.  This partnership provides immediate access to US students, even those with little or no Portuguese language experience, to learn about Brazilian culture through full immersion in a professional environment while gaining professional skills that will help them be more marketable in our global economy.”

 

Pedro Leite Costa, co-founder of the Center for Brazilian Studies and North America Manager for The Information Company, says, “Brazilians are really interested in learning more about the US and creating relationships with the Northwest.  This is a unique opportunity for us to prepare students for the realities for working in an international business environment and at the same time build strong ties between the US and Brazil.”

 

The IE₃ Global Internships Program is one of the longest running international internship programs in the United States. Created in Oregon in 1996 by a federal grant awarded in recognition of the fact that university graduates who are fluent in other languages and able to work across cultures are vital to national and regional interests, the program has facilitated the placement and preparation of over 1200 interns at over 150 different internship sites in 80 countries worldwide. These sites include private sector companies, government agencies, schools, social service programs, nonprofits and non-governmental organizations.  In the years since its inception, public universities in the states of Washington, Alaska, Utah and Montana have joined the program to offer these unique experiences to their students.

 

International internships are increasingly recognized by universities and community colleges as an effective way for students to enrich their coursework and gain insight into the global context of their studies, resulting in deeper understanding of realistic applications of their chosen fields and more competitive resumes. “In addition to the incredible personal growth that comes from an international experience, participating in an international internship gives students a unique competitive edge over anyone else graduating and moving into the workforce,” says Cynthia Engel, Europe and Oceania Director for IE₃, “Employers can feel more confident in the student’s professional and personal maturity when they have completed an internship abroad: they are willing to take risks, are adaptable and flexible, have developed strong communication skills and can bring a creative, international perspective to the workplace.” 

 

The Center for Brazilian Studies has recently been developed at the University of Washington because of the economic, political and cultural importance of Brazil for the Pacific Northwest. It is the only center for Brazilian Studies in the Pacific Northwest. There is a need to provide a rich, substantial understanding of Brazil in order to enable this region’s businesses, opinion makers and civic leaders to effectively engage with Brazil as well as South America and other Portuguese speaking countries, such as Mozambique and Angola.  A number of Brazilian civic and business leaders have expressed their appreciation of the growing significance of the Pacific Northwest – especially in the areas of aerospace, information technology, agriculture, health care, renewable energies and the nonprofit sector.

 

Both Ms. Lemery and Mr. Costa hope that the new internships will raise awareness among university students of Brazil’s ties to the Pacific Northwests and help cultivate a mutually beneficial commercial and civic relationship.  Their goal is to allow 10 students to participate in the internships in the first year, with numbers and internship opportunities increasing in the following years.

 

For more information on the IE₃ Global Internships Program: http://ie3global.ous.edu

For more information on the Center for Brazilian Studies: http://jsis.washington.edu/brazil/about.shtml

Congratulations, Robbie Lamb! Former IE3 Intern, Future Fulbrighter

Robbie Lamb, a former IE3 intern at Equilibrio Azul in Ecuador, is on his way back to Ecuador this fall with a Fulbright Scholarship to help build a marine reserve in the country’s Esmeraldas region.  The following is taken from the OSU Headline News page. See the original article at:http://oregonstate.edu/home/stories/index.php?story=RobbieDives

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Robbie Lamb’s love of marine biology started with his mother’s pre-dawn knocks on his door when he was a child. She woke him so the two could drive from their Portland home to see the Oregon coast’s well-known tide pools. He hated getting up early, but once there, Robbie managed to shake off his drowsiness. The pools inspired him. “I think that’s what really planted the seed for marine biology,” says the senior in the OSU Honors College.

Robbie’s mom didn’t stop there. She urged her reluctant son to spend his junior year of high school as an exchange student in Ecuador. He loved it. Ecuador had so much a teenager like him wanted — diverse ecosystems, more endemic species than almost any country in the world and a rich, varied culture. “It was one of the most formative experiences I had,” he says.

At OSU, Lamb has strengthened the marriage of those two passions – science and culture. He’s a http://biology.science.oregonstate.edu/biology major pursuing an International Degree and marine biology option. He’s spent countless hours in the lab and the field, and he’s written his own grant proposals to get funding for research in the United States, Ecuador and the Bahamas.

But perhaps Lamb’s crowning achievement came in the mail on April 2 — a letter approving a Fulbright grant to continue his studies in Ecuador. In September, Lamb will use the grant to help build a marine reserve in the country’s Esmeraldas region mdash; with fishermen’s input. “I’m very ready to go work with them,” Lamb says. “A big part of developing sustainable fisheries there will be establishing my own relationships with fishermen.”

It won’t be the first time Lamb has melded scientific and cultural work. As a congressional Gilman Scholar, he studied in Ecuador his sophomore year and interned with the Ecuadorian marine conservation group Equilibrio Azul, surveying sea turtle nesting sites and the shark catches fishermen hauled in daily. Counting sharks was a particularly sensitive job in Ecuador at the time. Shark fishing was illegal, and the fishermen were initially suspicious of him.

Gaining their trust was difficult, and where Lamb used to see only a conservationist’s argument, he began to understand the fishermen’s side of the story. “I saw them for the people that they really are. They’re just trying to feed their families,” Lamb says. The experience crystallized his career path. “That experience was very pivotal in directing my interest toward sustainable fisheries,” he says.

Lamb’s travels didn’t end in Ecuador. During his junior year, he took advantage of two of OSU’s undergraduate funding opportunities: the Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship & Creativity grant and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute program.

The grants took him to the Bahamas, where he worked as a research assistant for zoology professor Mark Hixon and even performed his own study on the effects of Bahamian marine reserves on fish communities. “What’s great about Robbie is that he is so enthusiastic, so willing to work and so dedicated to learning about ocean conservation and management,” says Hixon.

Now, with funding from Oregon Sea Grant, Lamb is working with zoology professor Bruce Menge, studying the same tide pools he visited as a child. He’s looking forward to returning to Ecuador and eventually wants to earn a Ph.D. “I’m definitely interested in teaching. It’s probably the best way to give back to the next generation,” Lamb says.