Environmental Internship Program - 2019 Booklet
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BIODIVERSITY AND<br />
CONSERVATION<br />
PROJECT TITLE<br />
Teaching Assistant for<br />
Conservation Clubs<br />
ORGANIZATION(S)<br />
Rubenstein Group<br />
LOCATION(S)<br />
Mpala Research Centre,<br />
Nanyuki, Kenya<br />
MENTOR(S)<br />
Daniel Rubenstein,<br />
Class of 1877 Professor<br />
of Zoology, Professor<br />
of Ecology and<br />
Evolutionary Biology,<br />
Princeton University<br />
Phia Kim-Brookes ’22<br />
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY<br />
I taught at 15 schools in Laikipia County, Kenya,<br />
for the Northern Kenya Conservation Clubs.<br />
I went to a different school every day during<br />
and after instruction hours to teach students<br />
ranging in age from 8 years old to in their 20s.<br />
I often created the day’s lesson from scratch,<br />
and choosing the activities and games I could<br />
play with my students was fun. I developed<br />
creative ways to overcome language barriers,<br />
such as by drawing or acting out what I wanted<br />
to say, and I figured out how to engage a hesitant<br />
audience. I also improved my overall knowledge<br />
of conservation and wildlife so that I could better<br />
teach about these topics. As someone who values<br />
conservation, I found teaching others about the<br />
environment to be truly fulfilling. I will continue<br />
to teach about conservation for the rest of my life,<br />
most likely in more informal settings than what I<br />
experienced in Kenya, but surely I will never stop<br />
teaching now that I have begun.<br />
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