Since I was a young girl, I have always been fascinated with the world around me, especially our changing environment. I would constantly observe and think about the world's processes. My passion for the environment really sparked when I had an Earth Day class in 3rd grade. My teacher said the now outdated three words, "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle". I was hooked. My passion for the environment and our global actions towards mitigating climate change grew exponentially, especially in my exploratory teenage and college years. My last year of high school, I volunteered with Rustic Pathways Group, travelling to New Orleans to learn about and remediate the issues that the families affected by Hurricane Katrina were still facing. I learned about how the failure of man-made levees, alongside soil degradation and erosion and many other environmental factors, led to the massive destruction following the hurricane. So, I thought I should become an engineer.Well, turns out engineering is tough, much tougher than I expected. After two grueling years of experiencing the engineering college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I finally called it quits for engineering and turned to a way of combining my two passions: observing the world around me and the environment. So, I decided to double major in environmental studies and political science. I am so grateful to have experienced those two years of engineering to learn how much I love interacting with people, the environment, and looking at global political systems from multiple lenses.