Class of 2006
Alana Wase
Alana Wase, a 2006 graduate of Washington College, double majored in French Studies and Environmental Studies. She is now working for the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest environmental organization. This year she worked in Maryland's capitol to lobby for the Global Warming Solutions Act to reduce Maryland's greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Unfortunately, the bill did not pass, but environmental organizations across the state are gearing up for it for 2009.
In the meantime, she is working with activists around the state to promote "Cool Cities" a national campaign for local cities and counties to pass resolutions declaring that they will reduce their carbon emissions to their 1990 levels by 2012, conduct greenhouse gas emission inventories, create climate action plans and finally implement them. In Maryland there are six "cool" counties and eleven "cool cities" with over 700 across the nation.
Undergrad Highlights
Majors: Environmental Studies, French Studies
Cater Society of Junior Fellows Research
In June of 2005, I was able to go abroad to Tanzania through Washington College's summer course and Cater Society of Junior Fellows grant money to get a much closer look at the environmental, social, and economic issues that the country is facing.
The trip included visiting local villages and discussing with different Masaai tribes, (transitional and traditional), visiting two health clinics (traditional medicine and a western clinic), and several schools both public and private. We also spent a week on a safari first hand seeing the tourism industry and the environmental concerns that are associated with ecotourism and game hunting. While there I focused my study on the state of the education system in Tanzania.
The country has extremely high rates of student enrollment as their public school system has very few fees, however after looking closer, it was very apparent that this did not represent the quality of the education. Instead, the education system, from its lack of funding is overloaded with students, deprived of resources such as books, desks, chalkboards, and even teachers. This was an amazing experience for me to begin to understand how the majority of the world lives.
Campus Event Appearances
Look for Alana in these event photos.