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I spent half my time kayaking on lakes and ponds observing Loon behavior and checking for leg bands. This banding information can be used to indicate information about the year the loon was banded, mating patterns, and migration patterns, which all inform our understanding of loons' behavior.

Jorge Parada Cisneros '25: During my time at Young Scholars Liberty Partnerships Program, I met the incredible staff and students to get a better understanding of the program and its goals. My research provided tools, techniques, and resources for the program and its staff to help assist the students in the program and set them up for success.

The Mansion House museum tells the living history of this remarkable place and Community, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with the Mansion House this summer as an Upstate Institute Fellow. Collaborating most closely with Tom Guiler, Director of Museum Affairs, and Theresa Batty for graphic design, I have been researching and designing a museum exhibit about four lesser-known Oneida Community members. We are investigating how their stories contribute to a more multi-dimensional and personal understanding of the Oneida Community and its history.

Through the Upstate Institute Summer Field School, I had the opportunity to work with the United Way of Mid Rural New York, which recently merged the United Ways of Chenango, Delaware and Otsego, and Madison.

I have been creating guides on “how to use chatGPT for social media captions” or “how to send a link in an email.” Weekly, I have been getting together with Tara to discuss online tools such as Google Drive, Facebook, and Instagram. Though it might seem like small work, I believe that I am making a visible difference that I describe as “Media Literacy.” It is rather common that many online services specifically designed to be accessible and intuitive can seem inapproachable to people that don’t understand or have the time or resources.

In my research for Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, I assessed visitors to determine their motivation for visiting the exhibit, their personal experience in the visit, and their ideas for future improvements to the museum that will enhance the experience for them and encourage future visits. I did this by timing and tracking visits as well as surveying visitors.

The Fiver Children’s Foundation is a one-of-a-kind place that seeks to cultivate the lives of youth with its ten-year commitment with children from underserved communities from Central New York and New York City. Fiver starts mentoring a child when they are 8 years old and stays with them until they are 18– a significant transition age for youth.

MUCC does the important work of providing a long-lasting support system for this community by running an inclusive, multicultural, and refugee-friendly community center. They run various after-school programs, film-making, and college readiness workshops, as well as English-as-a-second-language and citizenship classes.

The Hamilton Healthy Food Connections voucher program provides pathways for financially-struggling households in the county to meet their basic needs by engaging in the social safety net of Hamilton County. During my time at BMC, I have assisted in the process of shipping 125 booklets, each containing $100 worth of vouchers, to the program’s community partners which are then distributed to individuals and families who struggle to afford fresh, healthy food so they can redeem the vouchers at their nearest farmers market and get the food they need.

Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of working with the nonprofit organization AdkAction through the Upstate Institute Field School.