Jahir was asked about his experience and this is what he said:
"I traveled (in a plane) to Sierra Nevada Mountains. We stayed at three different Airbnb's to accommodate Covid rules. The first house had two awardees, the second house had three awardees, and the third house (my house) had three awardees [students]. We specifically stayed in Truckee!
I learned so much. The entire expedition was based on Meadows and I honestly didn't know what a Meadow was. To make it short, a meadow is a field of grassland that is "supported" by a "river". I didn't just get to familiarize myself with the definition but I also connected to meadows physically, mentally, and spiritually... not kidding lol.
One of my great memories was the first day out on the field. I had previously clicked very well with another awardee [student] on the flight and we were grouped with Alecia [the best and my favorite!] and Josh [one of the facilitators]. Our task was to find these nails/ pins few inches under the ground that were basically there to map out points around the field. We found these using a GPS device, a metal detector, and a lot of determination/ spirit lol. Before going into the field, I had manifested an "easy" finding and our first three were definitely not easy and hard to find. Although, it was until our fourth pin that Irma [the awardee/ student] and I started to nail the task [get it? lol]. We found so many [or at least that's what it felt it] and laughed much more. It was an incredible experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
If you are thinking of applying to Earthwatch, I highly recommend this program. Even if you are not super invested in environmental science or things along that line, this program will really clarify and give you an experience you wouldn't have if you were to not do it. You can't say you don't like something until you have tried it. I met so many new people and friends. Even though I already finished the program and miss it SO MUCH, our group is soon-to-be meeting up again to hang out with each other. If you think you should, you should. You will not lose anything if you reach for the stars and apply!"
For more information on this program, please contact Mr. Villamil at [email protected].