I hate to be stared at. But in Haiti, white people stand out like cupcakes in a salad bar, so my internship advisor Dr. Blood, my co-worker Jacob, and I all drew stares everywhere we went. It almost seemed we were the only white people in all of La Victore (and actually, it may not be very unlikely). To close up our summer internship, aqUV took a trip to do some work in Haiti. If you didn’t already know about it, go check out @jyager’s post (You may be impressed by his mosquito bite count—it is true, he had a lot more mosquito bites than I did, but for the record, mine swelled to a far more impressive size and looked far worse). To be honest, I learned more because of this summer internship and through the ending trip to Haiti than I can say in one sitting. I even find myself […]

“What is that you said you are studying? Global Service? Is that a major? I’ve never heard of it before. And an engineering minor you say? I always get these questions when I share my career as a student at Valparaiso University. I almost dread the questions, because I always have to explain my entire life-plan for it to really make sense. Whenever I get these questions, I think about how there is a huge opportunity to use engineering in the field of development. But not only to build things, there is a need for people concerned with efficiency and sustainability, people with the mind of an engineer, in this field. I think about how there is a need for people who can draw on their technical knowledge to make practical plans, people who can communicate and research, and who tend to look from every angle to creatively develop solutions […]