Wrapping Up Loose Ends: Goals

It's been since IAAS National Summit since I wrote. Here I will briefly tie up loose ends from the preceding months. At IAAS National Summit, the lovely and professional Victoria Barth was elected as National Director for IAAS USA. I have since been elected as president of IAAS at Iowa State University. I am incredibly excited to work with Victoria and the rest of our new national executive team. There are currently four goals at various levels that I have in IAAS. First, plan and fund raise for world Congress 2014 in the USA. Secondly, help our new USA executive team get to World Congress 2013 in Chile. Third, plan a World Food Prize exchange week in October. And finally, get our local Iowa Wines Seminar off the ground. We have already arranged for our two first exchange program students. Our first will be a Belgian student; he will work at the ISU Horticulture Research Station this summer. Our second will be this fall with a student from IAAS Hohenheim who will work with the IAAS alumni at the CSA (community sustained agriculture) Table Top Farm.

The Take Less, Give More Water Initiative also has some loose ends to tie up. In the fall, we hope to move forward by starting pen pal relationships with the people in the area of our charity:water infrastructure development. We also hope to get more students involved by having a water education event during Welcome Week. This summer, I'd like to apply for some grants so we have seed funding to work with for advertising and educational events. If we get seed funding, we may be able to market Take Less, Give More Water Initiative merchandise to support development in a water insecure community.

And now, for the largest recent change in my life: my internship at the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru. My first and most difficult goal is to become proficient in Peruvian Spanish. this looks to be very difficult, but I need to remain patient with myself. If I try my best and study in the evenings, this is all I can do. !Asi se puede! Secondly I need to learn all I can about genebank preservation, seed saving, and potato cultivation for my antisipated horticultural research at Iowa State in Peruvian potato cultivation for the upcoming year.

Costa Rica was a good preparation for this trip. Speaking with Costa Ricans gave me a bit of confidence in speaking Spanish with native speakers, even if Peruvian Spanish seems very different. The trip gave me impression that is thus far accurate of how Latin America looks and feels.

From here forward, my adventure in Peru...