Paige Long
Paige Long spent 6 weeks this summer taking classes at the IES Abroad Center in Vienna, Austria. During her accelerated semester, she took two psychology courses, The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination taught by Professor Jennifer Daigle, and The Psychology of Society in Vienna taught by Professor Suzanne Preston; fulfilling her 6-credit hour maximum. Throughout her semester, she gained two completely different, but beneficial sets of knowledge that returned with her to be applied to her future work. Paige had two crowning achievements during her semester abroad, one from each class she took. The first being her position paper for The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination, where she argued that the criminalization of abortion was not a violation of human rights; a position contrary to the one she held. This paper was extremely challenging for her to write, as it conflicted with several of the identities she holds; however, she still felt the experience was beneficial, as it taught her how to attack the argument, rather than the person for holding that argument. She received a 94% on the paper, ending the semester with a 95% overall in the class.The second crowning achievement from Paige’s semester was her oral presentation for The Psychology of Society in Vienna, where she presented an Adlerian Analysis on the fictional character “BoJack Horseman.” In her presentation, she applied Adlerian theory to the behaviors, actions, and lifestyle choices of BoJack. Furthermore, she designed a therapeutic intervention strategy for BoJack using Adlerian therapeutic practices. She received a 98% on the presentation, ending the semester with a 93% overall in the class. When she was not doing schoolwork, Paige dedicated herself to integrating into Viennese culture. You were most likely to find her swimming in the Donau Canal, exploring the Museum Quartier, or at the local Prince Café! She discovered a newfound love for soft pretzels, and a new favorite dish: Kaesespaetzle! In addition to exploring Vienna, Paige took several weekend trips to other countries, including Budapest, Hungary, Munich, Germany, and Prague, Czech Republic. Paige is incredibly grateful for her time in Vienna, as it nurtured her personal and professional growth. She is looking forward to visiting Europe again in the near future.
CEE Title: Introducing Sustainability on Campus
Our CEE covered sustainability issues in our campus community, and how we can correct them. To begin, we each gave a brief presentation about our host country and the sustainability practices that they have instituted. Additionally, we provided photographs of these sustainability practices in action, such as recycling bins, composting bins, wooden cutlery, paper straws, and sustainable housing. Furthermore, we emphasized the importance of sustainable travel methods in our host countries, such as walking, biking, and taking public transportation as a means of reducing one’s own carbon footprint. Finally, we discussed the reduction of food waste in our host countries, and how their portion and plating size strategies have allowed them to reduce food waste substantially, decreasing their overall waste output.
After our introduction to sustainability, we transitioned into our specific topics, including efficiency, economy, and implementation. I was responsible for covering the topic of efficiency where I discussed the lifespan of durable materials, the affordability of solar energy, strategies to avoid abundant food waste, and how to reduce your carbon footprint on a digital scale. Second, Allison was responsible for covering the topic of economy as she discussed the financial aspect of switching to sustainable products in our campus dining hall. Finally, Jasmine Phillips was responsible for covering the topic of implementation as she discussed additional, cost-effective ways to promote sustainability on our campus. An example of a strategy she suggested included designing posters and hanging them around campus to promote a sustainable culture. Upon concluding our presentation, we opened the floor for questions, and sent our spectators off with sustainable starter kits! Each kit was complete with two sets of wooden cutleries, two metal straws, a sustainable sponge, a sustainable notebook, a sustainable pen, and a sustainable toothbrush!