The Experience of a Lifetime
-Written by Chinonso Uzowihe, First year Coastal Science and Policy Fellow at University of California, Santa Cruz& 2017 International Community Scholar in UCF’s Citizen Science GIS NSF REU Site in Orlando and Belize
Every undergraduate student has a moment of awakening during their college years. For some this can mean deciding you are in the wrong major, for others it can be a moment that things click in class. For me, that moment occurred during the summer of 2017. This REU was the experience of a lifetime, and I was able to learn a variety of lessons and skills that I still call upon.
The NSF REU brought students from across the country together to address a real-world problem in the international coastal community of Hopkins, Belize; this is no small feat for complete strangers to work on. In this way, teamwork and effective communication became key skills to develop during this time, as they were vital to a successful summer. Communication skills were also important while living in the community. You spend roughly a month overseas, and during that time you are on the job 24/7. You engage the community members in your research, and they are around even in much of your free time. Furthermore, speaking to the community is part of your research question and solution development, something that is important to your future problem-solving skillset.
Fast forward 4 years, and I am now a first-year graduate student in the Coastal Science and Policy Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I chose my graduate program for its interdisciplinary focus on coastal issues, an area I realized I had an interest in due to my REU experience. My research focus is stakeholder engagement, because the REU taught me the importance of involving those that face the issue in the development of a solution. Similar to what we did in the summer of 2017, I reached out to key stakeholders to develop my graduate research question, and I intend to use the communication and teamwork skills I developed to solve a real-world problem by the time I graduate.
The REU is an experience I will never forget, and I was able to make lifelong friends and gain incredible mentors I know I can contact for assistance at any time. For any students reading this that are uncertain of what they want to do in the future, I would highly recommend searching for internships such as this one. The ability to learn and work with like-minded individuals as you solve a real-world issue will surely be a moment of awakening for you, as it was for me.