Hi everyone! My name is Katherine, and I am a junior at the College of Business Administration here at Pitt currently majoring in Global Management. I am honored to be here and have the opportunity to share about myself and the experiences that I will be embarking on soon in Trinidad. A little about myself, I was born in Boulder, Colorado, and am a daughter of two immigrant parents. My mother immigrated to the United States from the Philippines, while my father immigrated here from Colombia. Growing up in a household that was enriched by two completely different cultures, I was blessed to eat ethnic cuisines, experience multiple traditions, and have relationships with two huge families. Even so, my first time flying on an airplane was by myself at three years old to Colombia to meet my immediate family. Yes, it was allowed, and yes the airline staff took good care of me all the way there, or at least I was told so. I also had the opportunities to live in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas until I was 12 years old, and finally my family made our way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now that I can reflect on myself as an adult, I realize that I have become accustomed to the appreciations and understandings of several idealisms, cultures, and social behaviors of different environments and societies, which has drawn me to have a passion for worldwide conception and respect for all kinds of people and groups.
As a Global Management major, I feel that this program will allow me to further become knowledgeable towards the nature of the class courses academically when I enroll into international economics and international organizational behaviors, by connecting and visualizing the many business conceptual teachings of the course itself. I love to travel around the world, and not just in a way to vacation or relax but to experience the authentic senses and ways of lifes. In my own career goals, I would like to pursue a profession in something that works to better connect our world, such as diplomacy or similar to this program, working with nonprofits internationally. Being able to study and work within a global business project will allow me to follow similar skill sets professionally in my career goals.
What has interested me into the Global Service Learning Program was the company NatureSeekers itself in Trinidad, a nonprofit that protects leatherback sea turtles and embodies the importance of environmental awareness and initiative. And also the hands on and analytical skills that we will be practicing and utilizing in a real world setting. When I lived in Texas, my parents drove us to Corpus Christi beach and we got to watch a group of baby leatherback sea turtles hatch and slowly make their way into the water. Ever since then, I grew a deep love for these ocean animals and an empathy for sustainability, protection, and community enrichment. Now that I’ve been given the chance to be a part of this team in my educational and personal endeavors, it feels as if everything is coming to a full circle moment. In only less than a month from today, our team will be traveling to Trinidad, and although there is still preparation and work to do, I am very excited for what’s to come!