Hometown: St. Paul, Minn.

Major: Environmental Chemistry

Campus Involvement: Yoga Club, Chair of the Beloit College Revolving Loan Fund Committee, two-time sustainability fellow

Why Beloit?: What initially attracted me to Beloit was the type of people who went here. What kept me here were the classes and approach to learning. I came in knowing I wanted to be some kind of science major. The atmosphere of the classes emphasizes collaboration − not competition − which is much more effective and realistic. Once you go into research, you’ll be working on a team.

On FYI’s lasting influence: My First-Year Initiative Seminar (FYI) was the “Value of Periodically Reevaluating Your Beliefs” with Associate Professor of Spanish Oswaldo Voysest. We’d pick a controversial topic and read articles and different opinions on the issue, but we’d break down their arguments instead of debating. It taught me to step back before forming an opinion. It’s been really useful.

On a Beloit-ish study abroad: We had mostly group work all semester in one of my classes in Norway. We worked on a research project that has since been published: the effects of warming on a fjord over the past 100 years. That was where complete collaboration skills and experiences from Beloit were really useful.

How she became a sustainability fellow: I’d heard about it on Stuboard, the student announcement board. It was more of a philosophical reason. A lot of the initiatives and movements on campus need more evaluation. I wanted to see where energy loss and gain comes from. The biggest thing I gained was a realistic perspective of energy use on campus. That was also one of the hardest things: figuring out what isn’t feasible.

What she did each summer: My position the first summer was to work with the Physical Plant to evaluate houses on campus and make them more energy efficient. Last year was spent dealing with the campus chiller — figuring out how it worked and what we can do to make it more efficient.

Summer plans: I’m going to teach a yoga course. I’ve been involved with Yoga Club here and done yoga on and off the past five or six years. It’s an important part of my daily life.