Adventures in Portugal and the Balkans

Jordan Carey, 2021 ALG Recipient

My initial ALG proposal was "Getting By: A Socio-Journalistic Examination of Public Transportation." After quickly remembering my sensitivity to motion sickness, I strayed from this initial plan and spent my time walking, wandering, eating, conversing, learning, documenting and absorbing in Portugal and the Balkans. I volunteered at hostels in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Gjirokastër, Albania. I also volunteered in Belgrade, Serbia at a WASH Center providing shower and laundry services to asylum seekers and locals experiencing homelessness.

I will be graduating from Fairhaven College in Spring 2023 with an interdisciplinary concentration titled “Intersectional Social Science and Multimedia Storytelling with a Global Lens.” I work part-time as a nanny, dog sitter, and Studio Assistant at the WWU library’s Hacherl Research & Writing Studio. I enjoy taking photos and videos, casually birdwatching, and cooking while listening to Buena Vista Social Club. Here is the blog I posted on while traveling (it is still unfinished, ha)

Folklife and Foodways in Spain, Morocco, and Scotland

Bella Millikan, 2021 ALG recipient

My talk will detail my journey on the ALG through Spain, Morocco, and Scotland where I volunteered on various eco-projects, farms, and homesteads. I will explore how I engaged with topics such as cuisine, ecology, farming, place, religion, and the local histories within the communities I lived and interacted with. I will discuss how my time and experiences abroad led me to a new passion for folklore/folklife and ethnography in my greater life.

Hi! My name is Bella. I am a senior at Fairhaven College pursuing a concentration in Cultural Anthropology, the Environment and Foodways and minoring in Anthropology. In my free time I enjoy cooking, making art (fiber arts and doodling), listening to music, and identifying plants. ALG blog.

Reciprocity as an Adaptive Mechanism

Carlee Heger, Adventure Learning Grant Recipient

Carlee Heger volunteered and traversed French Polynesia, Peru and Costa Rica. Her work was in exploring reciprocity as an adaptive and evolutionary mechanism. She spent time working at biological field stations, teaching skateboarding, and learning about traditional subsistence practices of the area she was in. With a main campus background in evolution and ecology, as well as a Fairhaven focus in ethnoecology and traditional ecological knowledge, she wanted to look deeply at the intersections of community and survival.

Recommended Reading: Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Hi! My name is Carlee. I am a senior at Western who is a Fairhaven student as well as a main campus Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology major. After graduation, I plan to continue to work in field ecology in a variety of ecosystems. Beyond school, I’m an avid skateboarder, printmaker, road tripper, and fun haver.