Remembering Old Dreams

Yesterday, I was pulling some old information out for an interview with MSU's Alumni Association, and I stumbled upon my Truman application. In it, I found:
"I will pursue a Master of Science in Environment and International Development from the University of East Anglia. UEA’s School of International Development is a world leader in poverty alleviation and human, social and environmental change. Particularly exciting is the new work of Dr. Shawn McGuire on social networks’ effects on agrobiodiversity. Using genetics, agronomy, anthropology, and network modeling, McGuire’s team is exploring how seed sharing can improve management, environmental sustainability, and food security. The project runs through January 2014, meaning I will be at UEA in its final stages and hopefully join an action team arising from its results.
In the classroom, courses such as “Political Ecology of Environment and Development,” “Understanding Global Environmental Change,” “Health and Development,” and “Conflict, Peace and Security” will build upon my current skill set and prepare me for a career in food security policy. Other Masters programs offered by the School include Conflict, Governance, and International Development and Water Security and International Development, ensuring that the School is well-equipped to provide me with faculty mentors in each of my interests, including professors such as Mark Zeitoun (relationships between environmental conflict, and human, state and regional security in the Middle East and Africa), Steve Russell (health economics), Declan Conway (climate change), Bruce Lankford (agricultural water management), Daniel McAvoy (humanitarian crises and post-crisis transitions), and Elissaios Papyrakis (natural resource management economics). Strong in both the natural and social sciences, I am excited for how this MS program will allow me to continue my multidisciplinary interests while shaping me into an activist with the ability to do both environmental research on agricultural production and political research on policy change."

I'm doing the Water Security MSc, not the Environment one - the Water Security masters barely existed yet and wasn't on my radar when I was applying for the Truman. But I'm going to the "Political Ecology" class tomorrow morning, and being led by Shawn McGuire - for whom I now baby-sit. Declan Conway and I both just lectured at a "Water and Enterprise" Programme for Norfolk County and Norwegian high schoolers on green entrepreneurship and water use in their schools. I'm leading a working group with Mark and Bruce on the hydrosocial cycle.

The point: Life-changing seeds are planted early. Dearly beloved educators, never think what you're doing doesn't matter. Huge, huge, impossibly inadequate thanks to the many faculty who took an 18-year-old and showed her how little she knows about the world.  :)