“How can I effectively tell environmental stories across different cultural and geopolitical contexts while reporting and inspiring local solutions to the global challenge of climate change?”

I aimed to answer that (in hindsight, overly-wordy and complex) question this summer as I explored environmental journalism across boundaries: from the mountains of Nepal to the Flathead Valley.  

My Beyond the Classroom Experience began with a faculty-led study abroad trip to Nepal with the UM School of Journalism. I traveled to Kathmandu, Chitwan, and Pokhara, reporting on local climate solutions like bicycle libraries at schools and plastic roads — one potential solution to the country’s overwhelming plastic pollution issue. The International Reporting class I took in the spring helped prepare me to report cross-culturally and with a language barrier, but I still found myself (with my reporting partner, Noah Epps) in many a Nepali ‘Uber’ with no idea where I was going. I tried new foods – my favorite being momo, Nepal’s version of a dumpling — made new friends, and had a memorable (and, frankly, scarring) encounter with land leeches. 

When I returned to Montana in June, I moved into the Flathead Lake Biological Station — a research and education center on the East shore of the lake. There, I interned as the station’s environmental journalist… and it was the best job I’ve ever had! Its self-driven nature allowed me to be ambitious and creative, deciding what I wanted to work on and often tagging along on exciting trips to do my reporting. I experienced both the joys and hardships of freelance journalism as I marketed my work and collaborated with editors of news media outlets around the state. I worked on eight different journalistic projects, learning about and then communicating a wide variety of science and research topics to the general public.  I got to travel with classes and researchers to Glacier, the Nyack Floodplain, and British Columbia to electrofish, explore new glacial lakes, catch amphibians, sample water, and much more. I worked with the Lake County Leader, the Bigfork Eagle, and the Missoulian to publish articles in-print and online and am currently working with Montana Public Radio on a radio story. I improved my photo-taking, audio-editing, and writing skills as I practiced translating complicated scientific issues and jargon into understandable stories that resonate and connect people to the people, places, issues about which they read. I hope that my work has benefitted the bio station — through increased awareness, involvement, care, and maybe even stewardship — as much as it has benefitted me. 

I came out of my Beyond the Classroom Experience with a multimedia portfolio, Nepal checked off my bucket list, and (what I hope will be) lifelong friends. Although my internship is technically done, I’m continuing to work with MTPR and the bio station — as well as the Kathmandu Post in Nepal — to finish up stories and get the most out of my experience. 

I feel so grateful for the GLI, UM Journalism Abroad, and the Flathead Lake Bio Station for the best summer ever!