News
Students explore new places, new experiences
By Kirsty Warren ’18
September 3, 2015
This summer found Hamilton students working in fields as diverse as medicine, government and public service in locations as far flung as New York City, Ethiopia, Latin America and Nepal.
Leslie Campos ’17, Lindsay Heyer ’17 and Daniel Reyes ’17 spent the summer working with Professor Heather Sullivan and Professor Joel Winkelman of the government department. The group studied the way states gain legitimacy and public support and spent two weeks in San Jose, Costa Rica in July following their fieldwork preparation on Hamilton’s campus. “Danny, Leslie and I each focused on a specific ‘elite’ group, to understand how the state may interface with each group to craft legitimacy. Danny focused on the media, Leslie studied religious leaders and leaders of ethnic minorities and I looked at economic elites,” Heyer said.
In Costa Rica, the group met with leaders of labor unions, the Vice Minister of Labor, a journalist and the head of the Commission on Afro-Descendant Affairs. They also attended some of Professor Sullivan’s interviews with public officials and learned from the host families they stayed with.
“This summer gave me the opportunity to study the region more in depth, while working closely with my peers and professors,” Heyer said. A Spanish major, she said she found it particularly fascinating to use the language while researching and to have the opportunity to meet Costa Rican public officials.
Pre-med student Jack Goodman ’18 also used the summer to gain experience in his future career field. At Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, Goodman shadowed head of oncology Dr. Gary Schwartz. Goodman chose to shadow Dr. Schwartz because he specializes in sarcoma (cancer of connective tissue), which Goodman had at age nine.
“The most rewarding experience would be seeing the patients that come in thinking they have mere weeks to live because most other oncologists have nothing more they can do for them. However, Dr. Schwartz will almost always pull a ‘Schwartz Miracle’ and give them hope,” he said. “It might not be possible to cure them. He might just be able to extend their life by a few months but that means the world to these patients. Many of them broke out in tears of joy when he told them what he had planned. I left those meetings feeling so fulfilled and I don’t know why. I didn’t do anything. I guess the feeling of fulfillment that Dr. Schwartz felt rubbed off on me.”
Though he found it difficult to “see himself” in patients and relate to their experiences, Goodman said that shadowing Dr. Schwartz reminded him why he wants to be a doctor.
Far from New York, Sharif Shrestha ’17 implemented a project called “Herbs for Change” which aims to uplift the economic condition and living standards of people of Eastern Nepal. Just to get to his project site, Shrestha had to ride a 4X4 up the mountains for ten hours and then walk for nine hours in dangerous monsoon conditions. “It was all worth it,” Shrestha said. “The rewarding part comes from the beautiful experience I had working with the villagers in the simple lifestyle they are accustomed to and also by walking out knowing I am helping to create a long-standing and a substantial change in the village.”
For Tsion Tesfaye ’16, this summer marked the second year of the “Youth For Ethiopia” project she started last year. Youth For Ethiopia offers math, English and leadership courses to students and this year the project had 37 graduates from three schools. “I believe that Ethiopia, and the African continent, is dripping with potential,” Tesfaye said. “I wanted youth in Ethiopia also to see this and be equipped with the skills to take advantage of these opportunities so that Ethiopia can become the prosperous country it was meant to be.”
Many students related their summer projects or experiences back to classes they’ve taken at Hamilton. Shrestha said the course “Economics of Social Responsibility” had a major influence on the development of his project and business model. For Heyer, her Spanish classes and Professor Sullivan’s classes on Latin America piqued her interest in the region. Shrestha funded his project with a Resolution Fellowship from the Clinton Global Initiative ands funding from the Levitt Center. Christopher Powell ’17 received a Levitt Public Service Internship which he used to intern in Guatemala with Tree 4 Hope (T4H), a non-profit organization.
Powell tried his hand at several different jobs while in Guatemala. He facilitated groups of volunteers from the United States, served at an orphanage called Hogar Miguel Magone, wrote a food grant for an oncological hospital and managed T4H’s social media presence. For Powell, visiting a hospital and working with children at the orphanage were what resonated with him the most.
“[The kids] are all friendly, and excited to meet anybody new. The smiles on their faces almost never disappear, which is always amazing given their circumstances,” Powell said. “I’ll miss those kids a ton, but I know I’ll return soon.”