Shelby Pykare '13
Shelby Pykare '13
Major: Anthropology
Off-Campus Study: Pacific Communities and Social Change (Samoa, SIT, Fall 2011)
As a first-year I knew I wanted to study off-campus but I had no idea where I would want to spend a semester. I never thought that I would have the chance to study in the South Pacific and went into my program with few expectations. I ended up having the most incredible time and was introduced to a part of the world that I came to love, the Pacific. After coming back on campus I decided to do my Senior Independent Study on the emergence or a transnational community in the Pacific. I applied for and received Copeland funding to return to the South Pacific this summer where I was able to interview and observe academics and artists at The University of the South Pacific in Fiji. I also had an internship this summer at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City working with their Pacific Ethnology department. I am now continuing to work on my Senior Independent Study while looking into Pacific Studies graduate programs. I never thought that my one semester off-campus would end up directing the next stage of my life, but I'm really glad that it is!