And the Adventure Continues

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Lindsie Ann Wallenfang and I grew up in a beautiful, tiny town in central Wisconsin called, Green Lake. I spent two years at Loyola University Chicago with a focus in Environmental Studies and in, May 2009, I embarked on an study abroad adventure to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. I quickly fell in love with the country and the people and decided spend Fall semester 2009 on the mainland studying at Universidad San Francisco de Quito and Spring 2010 at USFQ´s campus on the island of San Cristobal located in the Galapagos Archipelago. While in Galapagos my educational focus was in Marine Ecology however after working on a few projects I found that my path lies in Environmental Educaiton.

With that said I returned home for the summer to find my path narrowing down more than I could have imagined. My grandmother (who taught elementary art through environmental education for 40 years) asked if I would help her in her proposal to turn our old, historical courthouse into some sort of environmental education center. Gladly, I accepted. A long and tedious road it has turned out to be but I have recently been pulling the pieces together and laying the groundwork for a community-based, not-for-profit people´s organization. It will serve as a platform for people to share information and increase awareness of cultural and environmental topics, both common and critical, so that we may bring to mind things that are out of sight and equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills needed to live a truly harmonious life- in balance with mankind and Great Nature.

As you may know putting together this type of organization requires a large amount of paperwork, and while I was attempting to make moves and get things rolling I found myself in a place where I wasn´t accomplishing what needed to be accomplished. Not to mention I have yet to finish batchelor´s degree. However, Environmental Education as a field of study is still in the process of being developed therefore making my mission all the more challenging. So, in a sense I have to pave my own way and I figured I´d best put myself in a good place to write out the bylaws for our people´s organization and get a head start on my thesis.

So now I find myself in Ecuador. Where the culture is warm and the vibes are tranquil.