Gaining (and losing) some wisdom

My first week in Menomonie was one of the most eventful weeks I've had since my Freshman year orientation. I arrived at the dorms on campus full of excitement, anxiety, and a really terrible toothache. Being from the East coast, I was unsure of what to expect from a small town in the midwest; but I have yet to be disappointed. Almost immediately after arriving, I could feel a sense of community within the city and between our LAKES group.

The first few days were filled with group adventures and getting a sense of what our projects would be in the weeks to come. Unfortunately for me, my toothache was getting increasingly worse, and I was met with the reality that I needed to get my wisdom teeth removed as soon as possible to avoid an infection. Although I spent my first weekend in Menomonie with a pufferfish-like face and the inability to chew, I would still consider it a success.

I am beyond grateful to have the opportunity to work with nine incredible women to make a difference in this community. In the following weeks to come, my research partner Jacey and I will be analyzing the effect of Section 319 of the Clean Water Act and the Conservation Reserve Program on surface water quality in Wisconsin. Overall,  I am so excited to see where this summer will take us, and I'm eager to see the results of our research.

Settling In

Despite having my initial flight delayed and the lengthy layover in Denver that followed, I finally made it into Menonomenie’s desolate, dimly lit streets just a few hours before sunrise. Getting settled into my room (or more appropriately, any room) wasn’t exactly a smooth process either but in truth, running around the campus at 2am trying to figure out my rooming situation allowed for some justified late-night adventuring that felt like an intimate introduction to this quaint town that so quickly felt like home.

Coming from the West Coast I wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect of the Upper Midwest. Subtle differences in the environmental, infrastructural, and cultural landscape captivated my interest at every turn. Everything from the type of plastic bags offered in grocery stores to the horizontal street lights and silent, buttonless crosswalks piqued my curiosity and the geographer in me fluttered with a desire to delve deeper into the stories latent in the landscape of Menomonie. And delve we did.

Our mentors gave us a tour of the town as we rode our bikes around the streets and later toured a local farm. The historical and ecological complexity of Menomonie emerged before us and our team didn’t hesitate to share our ambitions and commitment to social and environmental justice. Realizing just how much our disciplines and summer research seemed to overlap was promising and my mind has since been flooding with various ideas for our research. The most challenging part of being here by far is narrowing down what exactly I want to study this summer and how to go about the research. With my first week coming to an end, I’m a bit overwhelmed with my research options but also anxious to get started collecting data and working alongside this summer’s incredible LAKES team!

Home Again

Menomonie is a beautiful small town not unlike the one I’m from.  Just across the border and 75 odd miles west, Northfield, Minnesota, the town I’m from, bears many similarities to Menomonie.  Northfield is a sweet little college town with a population of 20,007.  There is a charming downtown where locally owned business fill the storefronts.  At first, I felt as though I was in a slightly smaller Northfield. Sitting in the park on Tuesday night, eating pie and listening to band music, I realized Menomonie is a special city.  I’ve never lived in a place where a whole community regularly gathers for any reason, let alone to listen to a medley of songs from The Music Man. 

Made it!

Menomonie is quite a bit different than where I grew up in Chicago and where I go to school in the Twin Cities. The smaller town feel of Menomonie is something new to me, and I have really appreciated it. I love that there always seems to be some event going on in town, whether it is the farmers market, co-op dinner, or the pie and music in the park. Menomonie is very welcoming and is really beautiful. I was expecting Wisconsin to look similar to Illinois which has a flat and pretty uninteresting landscape but Wisconsin has beautiful rolling hills and lakes that I love to walk by everyday. I am really looking forward to exploring more of Wisconsin in the coming weeks.

The work environment with LAKES REU has also been something I have never really experienced before. The atmosphere has been very interdisciplinary and welcoming to all ideas. I feel like I have learned so much from the other students and mentors already. I especially enjoyed going to the farm the other day and learning all about a job and way of life that I had never really seen up close. I learned a lot about the science and complexity of farming. I also got to drive a tractor and hangout with some cows, which was a lot of fun! I am looking forward to working with this group of students and mentor on our exciting research. I know it is going to be a fun and rewarding experience.

Take The Long Way Home

One of my favorite parts of getting to know my fellow Lakers since arriving in Menomonie has been sharing our tastes in music. I’ve shared a lot of Supertramp, one of my personal favorites. In the days since arriving in Menomonie, I’ve been thinking about one Supertramp song in particular: “Take the Long Way Home.” 

In order to arrive at Stout, I traveled northbound from my home in Southeast Michigan, through Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula, southbound for a quick stop in the Twin Cities, and eventually eastward to Menomonie. Had I taken the most direct route, the journey would have been completed in a mere nine hours. Instead, I turned it into a five day road trip and tacked on a few extra hundred miles.

Upon arriving on campus, however, I found a home of sorts. Since the very first night when we had dinner at the Waterfront, my research partner Nell has insisted on referring to our cohort as a family. And it turns out, seven days in, she’s not wrong. Some of this family-building has been forced (in a good way). We’ve been forced to all live in the same dorm, to work on the same research projects, and to attend the same events. But a lot of this family-building has been very organic; which, as environmentalists, we all tend to prefer. We’ve exchanged playlists and book recommendations and shared most all of our meals. We’ve explored the city and danced and played competitive games of billiards. Already, we’re a family.

The coming weeks are bound to fly by, and I’m trying my best to be intentional about soaking it all in. I am surrounded by nine ambitious, intelligent, and eager women who all have so much to offer to this research experience. With the help of our outstanding mentors and each other, I can’t wait to see what this family can do.

First Impressions

One of my first views of Lake Menomin at one of the overlooks.

When I arrived in Menomonie a week ago, I wasn’t sure what to expect. First of all, I’d never been to the Midwest before. Most of what I knew came from A Prairie Home Companion and reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder book Little House in the Big Woods (which it to say, not much). I didn’t know how to begin pronouncing Menomonie and had never had fried cheese curds or rhubarb pie—would a small town girl from North Carolina fit in? I was also a little unsure of how qualified I was to work on a biology research project. My academic path has been anything but traditional, and for most of my college career I hadn’t felt totally at home in any one major. Instead, I’d dabbled a little in horticulture, art, urban planning, and geography. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be experienced enough in any one area to make a useful contribution to any research project. On top of that, I was a bit nervous about meeting so many new people from all over the country.

Listening to the town band during our first Tuesday night concert (aka Pie Night!).

A New Adventure Begins

Traveling to a new place is always exciting because I have the opportunity to expand my perspective, make friendships, and explore new things. Already within the first week of the LAKES REU program, I have gone on many adventures including visiting the local farmer’s market, eating homemade pie while listening to live music, and driving a tractor from the 1950’s. This town is full of life with community events held throughout the week, fun coffee shops to try, and numerous parks to explore. I am excited to discover more unique aspects of the town throughout the summer with the LAKES students. One aspect of Menomonie that surprised me was the culture of community. It can be seen from walking down the streets and interacting with the locals that they value relationships. I hope that I can continue to make connections with the locals as well as the fellow student researchers during the two months I am here.

LAKES First Impressions

             To officially kick off this summer’s collection of blog posts, I thought that I would say that the slight apprehension I felt due to my late arrival could not have been more unnecessary. It has been my absolute pleasure to experience both the undeniable warmth and unique personalities of the program’s students, supervisors, and the locals of Menomonie. Prior to coming here, I did not know a week could be so jam-packed with new experiences. Each day has a solid combination of hard work, good times, and the beginnings of my own personal growth as I go further beyond my comfort zone. Since I consider myself to be a naturally introverted person, it has been quite the change to constantly surround myself with people who come from different backgrounds but share the same passions. To realize there are others who are firmly committed to promoting conservation, taking environmental action, and supporting the diversity and inclusion of others has been one of the most positive aspects of the internship so far.

            I also believe that splitting research time between separate teams and group discussion is an effective method for promoting a more integrative approach to the sciences. I have found that receiving feedback from students and mentors who are not members of the biology research team has been helpful, as it has allowed me to consider a myriad of perspectives. Within my own research team, I have found the collaborative efforts of mentor and students to be exciting, with greater development of our focus as we dive into the scientific literature. Finally, within Menomonie, I have found that the spirit of the town is unlike that of Cincinnati, and I am eager to spend more time here. I look forward to the remainder of the program, and hope to foster a greater number of both professional and personal connections.

First Impressions

In a hilarious yet weirdly accurate display of wisdom, someone once told me, “Midwestern culture is just going to a state that looks exactly like yours and then complaining about it.” To an extent, that’s true I guess. As a lifelong Hoosier driving through Illinois and Wisconsin on my way to Menomonie, that is exactly what I did. Why are Illinois’ crop fields, bugs, and endless road construction so much more annoying than Indiana’s nearly identical set? But Menomonie took me by surprise because it’s not the same as any other Midwestern town.