April 28, 2003

UCSC offers world of opportunities to undergrad

By Jennifer McNulty

As a high school senior, Julie Chao chose UC Santa Cruz for its environmental studies program. Little did she know her choice would enable her to perform at Carnegie Hall before the end of her freshman year.

"I’ve studied piano for 15 years, and being able to do music as a nonmusic major has been really important to me," said Chao, who performed with the UCSC Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall in May 2001. "It was incredible. The hall sounded amazing. It didn’t compare to any other hall I’ve played in."

Now a junior majoring in environmental studies and sociology, Chao, 20, recently returned from studying in China and hopes to cap her college experience with a Wind Ensemble performance at the Sydney Opera House next year.

It would be a fitting end to an extraordinary four years of college.

Chao was accepted to UCSC, UCLA, and UC San Diego but chose Santa Cruz for its excellent Environmental Studies Department. "I knew I wanted to do environmental studies, and when I visited the campus, it was so beautiful. I knew I wanted to come here."

Chao took an early interest in environmental issues. As a teenager, she worked on restoring the habitat of an endangered butterfly in her hometown of Palos Verdes, cleaned up beaches, and did other volunteer work. Her leadership and commitment were recognized by the Audubon Society’s youth environmental service program, which sent her to a national conference as a panelist discussing ways to promote youth participation in environmental protection.

"I’d always been involved in environmental issues at the local community level, where you can see how your work makes a difference, which is a really good feeling," said Chao, who credits her studies at UCSC with broadening her perspective and helping her see issues from an "academic perspective instead of as an activist."

Referring to the joy of being surrounded by "brilliant people" at UCSC, Chao singled out sociology professors Andrew Szasz, Melanie DuPuis, and Ben Crow, as well as environmental studies professors Weixin Cheng and Brent Haddad, and Sean Swezey of the UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), as having been particularly influential. It was Haddad’s Freshwater Policy class, in which she learned about the controversial Three Gorges Dam, that sparked Chao’s interest in China. She studied Chinese during her sophomore year, applied for a summer internship with Global Village Beijing, a nonprofit environmental group, and enrolled in UC’s Education Abroad Program (EAP) for the fall quarter of her junior year.

Chao’s academic and professional experiences in China further broadened her horizons. She attended the 2nd Assembly of the Global Environmental Facility, her first international environmental conference, helped Global Village Beijing prepare grant applications and map outreach strategies, and she traveled to the infamous dam.

The visit to Three Gorges was perhaps the most eye-opening of all. "Seeing it firsthand, I really got a better sense of why they wanted to build it," she said.

Having studied the negative impacts of the dam, which displaced at least 2 million people, Chao was struck by its benefits, which include improved navigability on the Yangtze River.

"They need the river for commerce and trade, and I really saw that when we were going down the river and everyone had to get off the boat to keep it from scraping the bottom," she said. "Before I went to China, it was easier to be critical. Now, having been there, I understand their choices, even with the negative impacts. It has broadened how I look at environmental problems."

The trip had deep personal meaning, as well, because Chao was able to connect with relatives she’d never met, including family members still living on the farm where her grandfather grew up. "I met a lot of relatives who told me stories about my grandparents that I’d never heard," she said. "It was wonderful."
Chao credits UCSC faculty members with supporting student interests and encouraging undergraduates to "get out there and study abroad."

"I know a lot of my professors really well," said Chao. "My friends at other campuses can’t believe students here call professors by their first name."

Chao’s double major in sociology and environmental studies has provided the framework for her study of sustainable agriculture. With support from CASFS, she hopes to return to China after graduation and work with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s integrated pest-management program. Living and working in a small farming community, Chao hopes to share low-impact, sustainable farming practices with growers. "Volunteers set up experiments in different plots so farmers can see for themselves what works," said Chao. "They work directly with farmers to educate them."

It’s a program that integrates environmental protection with grassroots-level activism, a combination that appeals to Chao, who also sees graduate school and a career in environmental policy in her future. But for now, UCSC is where she wants to be.

"I’m really happy here," said Chao. "Four years seems almost too short."

Return to Front Page