Andina in the Ivy: Using Video to Showcase My Journey into the Geosciences

The elevating and empowering Hispanic/Latinx voices through video: Reducing barriers in academia and building an ecosystem for success in the Earth System sciences project introduced graduate students and early-career scientists to culturally inclusive storytelling and video making skills in an effort to increase the visibility of Latinx students in underrepresented fields like Earth Sciences. The video presented in this talk highlights the different landscapes that a South American graduate student experienced during her shift in environments moving from the Southern West Coast to the Northeast. Her journey as a master’s student in the Earth Sciences department at Dartmouth College included numerous miles of solitary travel, indoor and outdoor teaching opportunities, summer research projects abroad, course work, and research work while being away from family and her community. This project put into practice her science communication skills in Spanish that served as an invitation for collaboration between her family, and her academic and career endeavors– two components that hadn’t merged together previously. The film captures her experiences through pictures, videos, and interviews with relatives that offer a deep insight into how her cultural connection and familial support aided her tenacity during her journey. Interviews with three family members showcased how although her decision to pursue a master’s degree in the earth sciences was a decision that she made on her own— her family played a major role in her decision and were supportive of her educational pursuit in an “unconventional” field for a first-generation college student. Additionally, this film shines a spotlight on the different pressures and expectations she faced from her family through common themes present in these conversations such as the expectation of her to succeed and her position as a role model for her younger brother. Her journey navigating these expectations and challenges are not a rarity, but rather provides an inside look into pathways that can manifest for students from different socioeconomic backgrounds as they try to break through barriers in these underrepresented fields.