By Elizabeth Gallagher

Sage Student Margaret Brenenstuhl Studies Elephants in Thailand

Margaret Brenenstuhl '16 complemented her classroom coursework with two immersive experiences this summer, earning credit toward her bachelor's degree in Public Policy, Advocacy and Civic Engagement (PACE) and fulfilling personal goals.

She began her summer at Eco Practicum, an environmental education and action experience for college students and recent graduates in the Catskills.  Acceptance to the program is competitive and the experience is intense: 12+ hour days, seven days a week for four weeks that include field work and meetings with government leaders and grassroots activists, on topics from the global food supply to natural resource management. A highlight was traveling to Dimock, Pennsylvania, with an investigative journalist, to tour hydraulic fracturing sites and meet experts and people affected by fracking, Brenenstuhl said.   

In early July, with support from the Cynthia Crocco Spector '74 and Sherman David Spector Fellowship, Brenenstuhl traveled to Tha-Tum, Thailand.  Tha-Tum is a farming community in Surin, known as "The Elephant Province." Elephants had helped their owners earn income in the logging industry; when logging was outlawed, the owners struggled to care for their animals and earn a living. Brenenstuhl volunteered on a farm and with an elephant study center that works with the community to create sustainable economic development and a humane environment for the elephants. "The best part was being able to ride the elephants to the river twice a week to bathe them. Since I was there a month, I was able to develop a special bond with the elephant that I rode, Num Shoke."

Brenenstuhl, a member of the women's volleyball team who interned at Sage's Climate Crisis Center this past spring, makes it a point to participate in out-of-classroom learning experiences. Up next: She will participate in a roundtable about implementing the Oxford-Style Tutorial in Sage's Honors Program at the National Collegiate Honors Conference in Denver this fall, and in an a prestigious internship with the New York State Assembly next spring.