Medill Student Gains from Summer Experience Outside of her Comfort Zone
October 26, 2018
This past summer, Alena Prcela embarked on a summer research opportunity with Professor Patty Loew that was an eye opening experience for both her, and tribal youth who were able to develop skills in multimedia journalism. According to Prcela, “This summer I had the opportunity to participate in a research project, in conjunction with Medill professor Patty Loew, members of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, and the National Park Service. During a month spent in northern Wisconsin, I taught multimedia journalism skills to tribal youth so that they could document their community's Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) for tribal and park service use, edited and transcribed video interviews with tribal elders and culture keepers, and presented at an inter-tribal conference on best practices for archiving and preserving culturally sensitive video interviews.
Participating in undergraduate research was incredibly rewarding. In addition to learning an immense amount about Ojibwe history, traditions, and culture from Ojibwe tribal members themselves, I gained a faculty mentor and developed the confidence to participate and even present in professional settings. More so, living and working in a community I was previously unfamiliar with taught me the importance of putting myself out of my comfort zone and then remaining open to any and all experiences, friendships, and stories that followed. I would tell any students interested in research to get involved as soon as possible, and to take a chance on a topic or project outside of your own comfort zone.”
The Center for Native American and Indigenous Research is seeking to foster more student research experiences like these that drive intellectual curiosity and promote cultural understanding.