You may have heard from some of the local residents that Conway is referred to as the “City of Colleges.” They’re not wrong! In fact, Conway is home to three of them: the University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College, and Central Baptist College. Over the years, we’ve been proud to hold partnerships and work collaboratively with each institution, from co-hosting campus events to tabling booths at their career fairs.
This time, we hosted a student from Hendrix at our main library. Grace Bryant, a senior at the College, presented research from her Odyssey Program project on climate change in Alaska. The Odyssey Program, Hendrix’s signature engaged learning program, is a tailored curriculum that all Hendrix students experience during their time there. Similar to a capstone or thesis project, students choose from at least three of six categories that include research proposals, co-curricular activities, completing course modules, and service-learning study abroad trips.
With the supervision of her advisor, Bryant, a pre-med major, decided to use her Odyssey experience to conduct an independent study in Alaska that focused on the health-related issues caused by climate change that state residents faced.
“I researched both the direct and indirect health threats of climate change, and how it has specifically impacted the communities here,” Bryant said. “In this way, I was able to not only link a topic I’m passionate about with my major, but use what I found to provide potential strategies to combat the effects of climate change for some of our most vulnerable environments.”
According to her findings, the changing climate has brought an increase in allergies, respiratory illnesses, food spoilage, as well as unsafe toxins in food. It has also caused the forced relocation of towns and cities due to catastrophes like infrastructural damage and poor water quality. Potential solutions may include a carbon tax, greater investment in renewable energy sources, reforestation, and ocean alkalization, Bryant states in her presentation.
Bryant got to speak with several patrons about her research and displayed books from our shelves on climate change. We were happy to host another accomplished student from one of our colleges and look forward to more future collabs! If you're interested in the subject yourself, take a look at our photos for some book recommendations below.
View a summary of her work here:
