As I round off the summer before my senior year, I am incredibly grateful for and very happy with the experience as an in-person Climate Resilience Institute (CRI) pre-college student!
I love the environment, but I didn't know much about climate resilience before this program. Dr. Garcia, the program director, and the TA's were very supportive in helping everyone understand the different lenses of climate resilience and accommodated a variety of familiarity with environmental-related terms, even by the second day.
The staff and guest lectures, and field trips, were diverse and engaging! A few of the many topics included environmental careers, environmental justice, and resilient food systems. Even though the topics were broad, the discussions we had in our pod blocks (smaller groups led by a TA), field trips, and end-of-program activities connected them all. There were always opportunities to connect hands-on to the learning material, from pulling garlic bulbs on a sustainable farm visit to using machine learning on climate change data.
Outside of class, there was plenty of time to bond. In our pod blocks, we discussed lectures and played team-building games like Hot Seat and Hangman. My residential CRI friends and I hung out at meals (the food at Tufts is so good!), went off-campus unsupervised to shop or eat, and participated in evening social activities like Color Run and Karaoke Night hosted by our residential counselors.
I believe CRI and Tufts Pre-College as a whole exceeded my expectations as my first pre-college experience since Summer 2019 (I hadn't even started high school yet!)! Although we had different perspectives, we shared a passion for the environment and building environmental and community resilience. This summer at Tufts was invaluable, and I look forward to applying the skills and knowledge I learned here in my senior year, college, and beyond.