Farewell

THE SCOTT HAMILTON CHASE FELLOWSHIP
The Chase Fellowship pays tribute to Scott Chase’s life,
his sense of adventure and inquisitive attitude. The Chase
Fellowship seeks to foster intellectual and cultural growth
and awareness in a student during the summer between
the junior and senior years. The Fellowship has been made
possible by the generosity of the Chase family and by
Scott’s classmates in the Class of 1985.
Scott Hamilton Chase
Fellowship
With the support of the
Chase Fellowship, I was lucky
enough to travel to rural Nicaragua
where I started a new
sports and tutoring program
for a non-profit, Viviendas
Léon. Before my trip, I earned
an “F” soccer coaching license
and a certificate in Teaching
English as a Foreign Language.
During my three weeks in
Goyena, Las Pampas and Nueva Vida, I organized sports camps,
initiated a new tutoring program, and helped build a school
and community center.
The hardest challenge I faced was building a connection
with the community in which I attempted to sustain a reciprocal
relationship. If I didn’t strive to associate with people,
I feared the inherent inequality between the giver and taker
would strip one of us of our dignity. To demonstrate that I was
also there to learn from them, I became their teammate and
peer instead of their coach and teacher. As the kids began to include
me in their banter by teasing me about being a “gringa,”
and the adults began to follow their children to the soccer field
and classroom with shy hints of smiles on their faces, I knew
that they had begun to accept me. I was in the process of gaining
the community’s trust. I learned as many valuable, timeless
lessons from the community as they learned from me.
The Nicaraguan community showed me how to appreciate
the simplicity of life and value relationships built on mutual
respect, while reminding me that to have a positive impact, I
need the hands-on experience of working in the complexity of
the world. Knowing that the program continues to succeed, I
am inspired to continue to empower others through sports and
learning.
Kyra Deeth Stehlin ’12
Reid Mangels Fellowship
Because of the generosity of the Mangels family, last summer,
I had the opportunity to expand my passion for biological sciences:
I interned at the local marine biology lab, the Romberg
Tiburon Center (RTC), and traveled to Atenas, Costa Rica, to
study applied research techniques and sustainability. For the
first three weeks of summer, I assisted graduate students at RTC
with their studies of the populations of copepods in the San
Francisco Bay, and examined how the changes in their numbers
may be affecting the decline of the Delta Smelt during
their larval stages.
For the next part of my Fellowship, I lived and studied
at the Center for Sustainable Studies in Costa Rica.
Taking advantage of the incredible biodiversity of tropical
rainforests, we studied in remote field stations. During
the second week, I chose to study fungi, specifically
ectomycorrhizal mushrooms. Ectomycorrhizae refers to the
symbiotic and mutualistic relationship between fungi and
flora. Both species benefit, the mushrooms provide water,
and the trees or plants provide nutrients. I never imagined
myself studying mushrooms instead of animal species, and
I was pleasantly surprised by how inspiring
and captivating I found the work.
Limited work has been published
about ectomycorrhizae, so there is still
much to learn. It was really exciting
when we were able to draw some conclusions
connecting forest productivity to
the mycorrhizae, and I wrote my paper,
“Mycorrhizal Mushrooms: Do larger
hymeneal surfaces allude to greater forest
fitness?”
The experience gave me self-confidence, the opportunity to
leave the country, and the privilege of studying with college
students on a subject matter about which I knew very little. I
now have a sense of what it is like to be a field biologist, how
to analyze data through statistics, and how to write a research
report. I learned the most about myself by being in a different
and sometimes challenging situation. The time during my
fellowship helped me not only discover more about myself as a
person, but determine what I am truly passionate about. After
taking classes on the history and economics of Costa Rica, I feel
more inspired to study environmental policy, so that I can help
to aid the conservation of the environment that I experienced in
my travels.
Alexa Boesel ’12
4 BRANSON SPRING 2012