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Considering the beauty of the region, the excitement of following and studying an elusive predator, “I don’t really see what else I should do,” Hays said.
The environmental science major spent several months in the region as part of a study-abroad program through Antioch College, and he became involved with Reserva Brasil, a nonprofit conservation organization. The senior followed puma tracks, collected scat samples and analyzed with program director Anne-Sophie Bertrand the effects of human activity in Brazil’s most-visited national park on an animal rarely studied in the region.
Hays was among dozens of WSU students who presented research and experiences Wednesday at the university’s second annual Student-Faculty Research Celebration in the Science Laboratory Center. Students and their faculty advisers from several disciplines gave oral and visual presentations.
Some of the projects, such as Guncha Kabayeva’s research into the effectiveness of cultural diversity programs at WSU, focused on campus-related issues. Kabayeva examined the increase of domestic minorities at WSU over the last five years — which she discovered to be just a modest change — and how culturally diverse programs have affected the student body.
“I think a more diverse student body helps students be better prepared for the real world,” Kabayeva said.
While Kabayeva, a student from Turkmenistan, said her research isn’t finished, her preliminary findings show that WSU’s efforts to make the campus more culturally diverse may work in theory but not necessarily in practice. She said that while some might find efforts to make WSU a more diverse campus in a region as homogenous as the Winona area difficult, if not futile, she thinks WSU has the right intentions.
“Some people might think the community may not be ready, but I think it is,” Kabayeva said. “Winona is a friendly place.”
Other projects, such as the one presented by Arlene Bjugstad, showed WSU students’ willingness to get involved in what they deem noble causes, even if they don’t get class credit for it. After Bjugstad and other WSU students spent part of last summer in Mexico for a study-abroad program, they became involved with several women’s advocacy groups in Cuetzalan, a town east of Mexico City.
Along with WSU professor Arlen Carey, the students organized a club that sells artwork made by poor women serviced by the advocacy groups in Cuetzalan. The proceeds from the sales are returned to the groups, which give out micro-loans to the women to help foster entrepreneurial endeavors. Bjugstad, who said she is moving to Mexico after she graduates this spring, said so far, the group has sold $1,500 of merchandise, and the women are talking about possibly opening their own restaurant.
“We just looked at their stuff and said, ‘I bet we could sell this in the U.S.,’” Bjugstad said.
While some of the projects will be left to the wayside after the students graduate, lost in a computer file or covered by dust in an attic, others, like the ones done by Hays and Bjugstad, have inspired students to carry on with the work. Hays hopes to return to Iguacu to continue the research he left, and hopefully work on a master’s degree.
“This has had a pretty huge impact on my life,” Hays said.
