Session I

Education is a fundamental building block of this nation. One’s level of education affects nearly every aspect of their life from socioeconomic status to cultural competency. When thinking about entering the world education, most people imagine the traditional desks behind a blackboard and students listening to their teacher’s lecture. This summer, these four panelists worked in vastly different parts of the education sector. Montessori classrooms, summer camps, NYC Department of Education central offices, and international higher education each offer a broad spectrum of educational issues and challenges. By overcoming various difficulties, the panelists learned a lot about the different aspects of what it means to be an educator and how they wish to contribute to educational systems in the future.

Gathering data and producing influential research in a way that is comprehensible for various audiences can be messy and difficult, yet highly rewarding. This summer, these four panelists experienced this first hand. From waste management and organic farming to floodplain research and dam policy reform, the panelists informed environmental decisions from the local to the international level. While each panelist attacked individual aspects of environmental issues, they strived to embody and advocate for responsible solutions. Come get “down and dirty” while discovering the importance of environmentally informed decisions. 

1. Jennifer M. Ortman, Victoria A. Velkoff, and Howard Hogan. "An Aging Nation: The Older Population in the United States." https://www.census.gov. May 1, 2014.

The Science Technology Engineering and Math world branches off into various directions; hence, there are different ways to go about a career in STEM. The goal of our joint panel is to integrate information from our respective experiences in different settings in STEM in order to not only show the diversity but discuss the universal components that connect all of our careers. Our settings range in scientific industry, as during this summer, we worked at different types of organizations- a lab, a clinic and a business startup. Whether it be in New York City, Boston or New Haven, we used our liberal arts educations to navigate the different experiences through our diverse Mount Holyoke backgrounds and were able to bring different skills to our internships and faced different challenges, observations and successes. We aim to bring these insights to enrich the Mount Holyoke Community.

What could someone who worked at the Community Food and Justice Coalition have in common with someone who worked at the Astor Home for Children and Families? What about someone who worked on a psychology experiment in a UMass Amherst Lab or someone who worked with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service? The answer? They all faced difficult challenges. Whether it was for a project, with an individual, or through the entire time span of the internship, each student encountered an obstacle that seemed as if the internship was not worth continuing. However, all of these panelists persevered, overcame their obstacles, and grew as people to get the most out of their internship experiences.

During an era of immense gender inequality, Mary Lyon founded Mount Holyoke in order to provide greater educational opportunities for women. She recognized the importance of education as a means of overcoming oppression. As an institution, Mount Holyoke has always stressed the importance of female empowerment. This past summer, we collaborated with different communities in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Cape Town, South Africa to further this vision. We worked with institutions and organizations that sought to empower women and challenge the limitations forced upon them. Though our work was in a range of fields, including the non-profit sector and technological training, we all sought to empower women through knowledge. By participating in education and activism, we offered a new perspective on women's roles and abilities and ultimately helped to change the way women view themselves.