Hello! I’m Jacob Owens, and I’m a senior at the University of Montana, who’s been studying journalism for the last four years. My GLI theme is politics and culture, which I got my share of last fall, while I interned in Dublin, Ireland. I interned at Babylon Radio, where I wrote articles and hosted a weekly radio show. I learned a bit more about Ireland and its people each time I interviewed someone. I wrote primarily about marginalized people like those without homes, Ukrainian refugees and people who have secondary breast cancer. These types of stories have obvious cultural and more subtle political implications. One story with a direct political connection involved a website Dublin set up to assist newly arriving Ukrainians. This is when I talked with the Lord Mayor of Dublin. My GLI theme also applied to what I gave to the people of Dublin. My radio show provided listeners with American music every Wednesday night, so while my work informed me about Ireland’s culture and politics, I also shared a bit of my own culture.

Ireland is not vastly different from the United States, but I did not need a completely different place to learn a lot about myself. How do you start over again and make friends in a different country? How do you respond to getting off on the wrong foot with your boss? And how do you conduct yourself when you’re an ocean away from home, in a place where no one has preset ideas about who you are? None of the questions above have a single solution but navigating those situations taught me about the person I am and would like to be both professionally and socially. 

I did not see myself as the traditional leader while abroad. My roles were that of student, intern, flatmate and friend, but I did have smaller scale moments of leadership. For one, I learned how to stick to my guns when repeatedly challenged by a superior. I also found that being a leader involves knowing when you are not the right person to take charge. Lastly, leading can be a quiet act, like being kind, friendly and accepting people for who they are. People with those leadership skills are who society needs for the 21st century. I thoroughly enjoyed my time abroad, but I am left with some lingering questions like how would Ireland have been different had English not been the primary language? Did I go to enough pubs? And should I have tried harder to befriend Dubliners? 

My time abroad is like a collage of memories. I can picture the lush landscape of Ireland with towns like Wicklow, the Cliffs of Moher to go along with Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway. Then there’s the memories I made alone during weekend trips around the United Kingdom and greater Europe. I visited Scotland, Wales, London, Paris and Italy! Perhaps the most memorable trip was going to Rome over Halloween, which I decided to do less than a week before. Roma, which seems more like a museum than a metropolis, gave me a memory that sums up my time overseas. My first night there, I was a bit confused and looking for a bus stop to get to my hotel with no knowledge of Italian. Luckily an Italian woman nearby took pity on me, took my hand and guided me to the correct bus stop. People in the world are good if you’re willing to get out of your comfort zone, get embarrassed a bit and go see what is out there.

My time in Vilnius, Lithuania has been one of the best and worst times of my life. I met the most amazing people and saw amazing history and sights, but I also missed my family and friends, and felt isolated at times.

My GLI Global Theme is Inequality and Human Rights. While in Vilnius, I participated in a student-organized protest in solidarity with women in Iran, did research on LGBTQ+ in Lithuania (Lithuania is deeply conservative), and visited several museums on the occupations and murders of Lithuanians, especially Jewish Lithuanians. One of my goals for studying in Lithuania was to learn history from the point of view of the oppressed, and I think I was able to do that here. I also met with many like-minded people from other countries, and learned how they do activism there – specifically in Germany.

I was very aware I am American. I met maybe five Americans in all of Lithuania, though there were probably more. I was constantly reminded by others around me that I am American. It was funny but a little tiring to me that whenever I said I was from the US, people would often launch into a criticism of the US. It was fine, but it happened a lot. I also enjoyed Lithuanian food (a lot of potatoes and meat) and culture. Someone described Lithuanians as a “country of introverts,” which seemed accurate to me. People often said Lithuanians were cold, but I didn’t think so. Lithuanians don’t smile to strangers or make eye contact in public. But every Lithuanian I met was very kind with their gestures when I needed help. The cashiers would ask the people behind me if they had a loyalty card so that I could get a discount at stores, and the people just handed them over. That was incredibly surprising to me, and really nice. I think it will be hard for me to adjust to smiling to strangers again, it felt like a relief not to have to smile awkwardly at people you pass by on the sidewalk.

I learned a lot about myself on this trip. It was my first time living on my own so far away from anyone I knew. I stayed in the dorms my freshman year, but I have been living at home since the start of the pandemic. I also had to cook for myself in Vilnius and had no supplies, so it was a little difficult for a while. I had a few bumps in the road, but I overcame them and have more confidence in myself, which is one of the main things I needed to work on in leadership. I learned how to navigate intercultural exchanges on a daily basis with many different cultures, and people very different from myself. I am so grateful for this experience.

Buen Día de La Granja Rocksheim! On the small organic farm where I spent three months as an intern, I experienced firsthand how the relationship between people and the technology they have access to differs vastly in Argentina versus the United States, which directly impacts resource use. Thus, this internship tied directly into my global theme, technology and society, and my global challenge, resources and sustainability. As these topics intertwined, I observed many principles of the circular economy model, even though the flow of Argentinian technology and resources through society overall is still linear.

Most people in Argentina don’t have access to technology we take for granted in the US such as the latest iPhone, reliable electricity, or clothes dryers. Because new technology is not available, people repair and reuse what they have instead of buying something new simply because it exists. Therefore, it is common to see cars from the 1980s and 1990s ambling around dirt roads. Their engines shudder and their brakes squeal, and their owners learn to repair them themselves to avoid the expenses of a mechanic. As a result, consumer demand for new resources is much lower and resources are used at a more sustainable pace. It isn’t exactly a circular economy, but valuing recycling and longevity of products is a step in that direction.

Below is the old farm van, used every week to deliver pollos, huevos, and other goods to the farm’s clients.

Living in a society with a “repair and reuse” relationship with technology instead of one in which the fanciest, newest technology is constantly sought out made me realize how toxic materialism is in the United States. While the Argentinian relationship with technology is a result of general poverty and not to be romanticized, some aspects are a good model for the circular economy. While taking apart a fence on the farm, I was instructed to save the half-rotten posts and rusted sheet metal and wire to be re-used. The farm owners lamented that the plastic cloth and chain-link fencing were too destroyed after years of service to be reused. I spent hours carefully sorting out all the materials and moving them under the trees to be stored safely for later use. When wire was needed to repair a fence, or sheet metal was needed to build a new roof for the pig enclosure, we would look first to the resources we already had.

The pictures below shows how palets were repurposed in a fence for the sheep pasture, an air b-n-b made from shipping containers, and a small earthship community.

True sustainability also existed on the farm: waste from the chickens and hens was valuable manure for the vegetable garden, and weeds from the vegetable garden were fed to the hens. Meat from the chickens, eggs from the hens, and veggies from the garden provided energy for farmworkers to care for all three. Many such ecosystem-like energy transfers existed on the farm to realize sustainable resource use.

Below are some thriving arvejas (peas), whose beds I dutifully cleared and fertilized before planting, and some repollo (cabbage) which survived the winter.

I usually consider myself a resourceful and sustainability-minded individual. I’m accustomed to composting my apple cores and checking plastic types to correctly sort my recycling. But the extreme reuse of materials in Argentina made me realize how lack of new technology lowers resource demand; if new technology isn’t available, people will reuse what they have out of necessity. In a circular economy, the purpose isn’t to grow and expand wealth, and Argentinian attitudes toward resource use are a clear example of why this is key to the circular economy model. The irony in Argentina, however, is that the lack of rapid expansion comes from lower socioeconomic standing.

After my internship, I was also able to spend some time camping and climbing in Frey, a couloir surrounded by incredible granite spires. I befriended climbers from all over the world and climbed Torre Principal with a few of them.

By Sarah Griffin

Cordiales saludos to all from Costa Rica’s Pacific side! My name is Sarah Griffin and I was a member of the Resources and Sustainability GLI group that graduated this past May. I was also one of the many GLI members whose Beyond the Classroom experience was thwarted by the pesky Covid-19 pandemic.

Initially, I was devastated by this loss. As a Spanish major and Environmental Studies minor, I had been anticipating my travels through Central and South America for years. I had serious doubts that any “at-home” version of said experience could come close to replacing it. But as soon as I stopped trying to turn my apple into an orange, a world of opportunity opened up before me, all from the comfort of 101 Jeannette Rankin Hall.

I took an internship with Camas Literary Magazine of the Environmental Studies grad program. Founded by graduate students at the University of Montana in 1992, Camas is a student-run biannual literary magazine that aims to “cultivate fresh ideas and perspectives while remaining rooted in the landscapes and traditions of art and literature in the American West.” Their mission is to provide an opportunity for emerging writers and artists to publish their work alongside established voices while celebrating the land that connects us all. And that’s exactly what it did for me.

I was motivated to work for Camas because I am a nature writer myself. I have been copywriting for businesses for roughly two years, but I had never worked in print. While interning with Camas, I learned the ins and outs of print publication as well as improved my writing, editing, and critical thinking with thanks to the variety of work that was submitted. Whilst honing these skills I also got my foot in the door by rubbing elbows with renowned writers in the field.

In addition to the nuts and bolts of developing a magazine issue, I learned from the experiences of my peers: how they came to be editors, how they find publications to contribute to, how they pitch themselves, which programs one should have fluency in, and how they balance workload between pet writing projects, school, and day-jobs. It was challenging to work with a media as subjective as art and literature, but it helped me identify and hone my leadership skills. I had plenty of practice in clear communication, humble expression of opinions, listening, follow-through, and self-direction.

Something I particularly enjoy about this Beyond the Classroom experience is how it related to my Global Theme of Resources and Sustainability. At first glance, one might think it’s a stretch to count working for a nature magazine as a project toward the conservation of resources and implementation of sustainable practices. But in all actuality, Camas (and things like it) are the genesis of all successful environmental work; they are a discussion forum for why people should and do care. Without personal connection, accounts of direct impact, respect, or admiration, no amount of science-based policy will drive sustainable adjustments to our ecocide-al lifestyles.

My understanding of the diverse perspectives related to environmental challenges such as resource use and sustainability were stretched by authors and artists that contribute to Camas from all over the world. Somewhere between Fundamentalist Mormons in the dessert of Utah having their worldview shattered by dinosaur bones in their backyard and the transcendental experience of photo-journaling Grizzlies hunting from an Alaskan stream during the salmon run, we all share common ground. The questions that arose from participating in the curation of Camas Spring 2022 boiled down to: Collectively, how do we decide what to do with this singular, precious piece of common ground?

As the seasons keep turning, I look forward to exploring this question with people who look, think, speak, and interact with their corner of this common ground wildly different than myself.

I am grateful for the ways in which GLI prepared me to do so. I wish you all curious minds and open hearts.

Chao for now,

Sarah

In the spring of 2022, I studied abroad in Cork, Ireland. My Global theme connecting me to this experience was resources and sustainability. University College Cork was the first internationally recognized school to receive a Green Flag from the Foundation of Environmental Education, so I was able to learn a lot about the University’s perspective of sustainability and how we can apply these practices here at UM or within our individual lives. Most of my classes I took were science courses where I learned about Irish flora and the culture’s connection with the environment.  

I noticed during my time abroad that the Irish were much more in tune with each other and their environment than we are in the United States. Although there are many people who care deeply about other people and the environment in the U.S., this connection to things outside of yourself is deeply engrained within their culture as a sign of respect.  

I had the opportunity to meet many people from all over the globe and this has shaped my perspective of global issues and has pushed me to become a better leader in the aspect of confidence. One of my most fond memories will be competing for the University’s dance team and truly experiencing how the Irish celebrate(it goes on for days).  

My Beyond the Classroom experience, which centered around the Franke GLI theme of Public and Global Health, began at the University of Montana where I joined Dr. Greg Machek’s psychology research lab. He guided me through my own research project exploring differences in childhood bullying and mental health outcomes between folks with different sexual minority identities. This became quite a large project because I had so many questions I wanted to ask, and a large database to dig through to find some answers. I felt very fortunate to have a mentor who supported my curiosity and encouraged me to push myself as a student and beginner researcher. I also had opportunities to assist with other research being conducted by Dr. Machek and the students in his lab. Their research looked at cyberbullying on a college campus during COVID. It was great to be in a lab learning about something that I would not have otherwise explored, and to learn from my mentor and other students. 

Doing research on the LGBTQ+ population was very eye opening for me as a member of that community. I previously heard that LGBTQ+ folks had higher rates of bullying and mental health concerns, and that inspired me to tackle this topic for my Beyond the Classroom experience and senior thesis. My research taught me that some subgroups (i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer) within the LGBTQ+ population are more vulnerable to bullying and negative mental health outcomes than other subgroups. For example, participants who identified their sexual orientation as bisexual, queer, pansexual, asexual, or ‘other’ reported being bullied more often during their youth and were more likely to experience suicidality than gay or lesbian participants. Understanding that helped me to see the importance of LGBTQ+ mental health research that looks at factors within the LGBTQ+ community, instead of just comparing LGBTQ+ folks to the straight, cisgender population. 

After a year of working on my project, I submitted my research findings to be presented at three different research events. First, I presented part of my study at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research in April 2022, and I was awarded best Humanities oral presentation! Next, I traveled to Chicago in May 2022 to present another portion of my study at the Association for Psychological Science Convention where I had the chance to listen to psychology researchers from around the world.

Finally, in August 2022, I presented more of my findings at the American Psychological Association Convention where I had several great conversations with other students conducting LGBTQ+ mental health research. It was amazing to be able to travel across the country to share my findings and connect with people who share my passion for mental health. I am so happy I joined the Franke Global Leadership Initiative as a freshman, and even more grateful for the support of the Franke Global Leadership Initiative Fellowship which made these opportunities possible for me! 

For my beyond the classroom experience, I spent the summer working as a photojournalist for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. This opportunity was the perfect way to immerse myself in a professional environment for what I hope to be my career after college. I spent each day going out on assignments, working on a long form story, and bettering my photography skills.

I was able to tie in my global theme Natural Resources and Sustainability through not only the stories I was able to photograph, but also a long form story related to my theme. I spent a few hours each week at a unique farm in Bozeman that not only inhabits three generations of sustainable farmers, but also leases to other farmers such as a flower farm and a mushroom farm on their land. I loved being able to highlight the way that the Hicks family uses their land and the other tenants that come and go.

Although I wasn’t in a foreign country, Bozeman still felt like a life changing experience to benefiting my future. I lived with the newspaper’s new agriculture reporter for the summer, so I was able to tag along with her to go to stories ranging from bees, potatoes, and the Yellowstone flood’s aftermath.

I’m excited and ready to apply the skills and information I learned from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle to my Capstone. Here’s to Senior year!

https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/photos/essays/many-hearts-one-farm-the-three-hearts-farm-west-of-bozeman/article_01b6e844-bdea-571a-8b1f-bd0f49df85b9.html

This summer I was fortunate enough to do my Beyond the Classroom experience at the Boys and Girls Club located here in Missoula. My global theme is Inequality and Human Rights. Through interning, I was able to further develop my interest in my global theme and my future career. I plan to one day become a School Psychologist. This summer I was able to teach kids about important skills such as emotional regulation. This internship gave me an insight into the ways that children see the world and how it differs from adults and the need to treat kids like human beings and not inferior people. A human right is being able to receive an education whether it is about school subjects or mental health awareness. 

The Franke Global Leadership Initiative gave me the tools to be an effective leader and teacher to these kids. One of my favorite activities that I would lead this summer was our emotional wellness circle. This was a time when the kids were able to express their feelings in many creative and practical ways. By doing so, the kids were able to learn how to recognize emotions and elaborate on them. Sometimes they would do so by playing their favorite song and describing how it made them feel. Other times they would associate their feelings with the weather. In the course of two months, I was able to see a great improvement in their ability to name their emotions and find effective ways to deal with them. This taught me that is never too early to teach children to prioritize their mental health. I am glad I was able to help so many kids this summer by providing them with a safe space where they were able to learn and grow.