I am applying to the faculty-led, living systems immersion course in the Peruvian Andes. This course provides an experiential opportunity for students to become immersed in Peruvian culture while simultaneously learning about holistic systems for sustainability. Upon completion of the course I will have earned a Permaculture Design Certificate. In addition, the course focuses on learning from and about local indigenous peoples as well as the importance of strong community relations. There also seems to be a great emphasis on leadership development and application of learning to our communities at home.

This experience would greatly enhance my learning at Portland State University. My current program of study is Leadership for Sustainability Education. We are constantly discussing and examining current systems and ways of improving them to achieve a more sustainable world. Our program focuses on learning from indigenous ways of knowing and creating strong human relationships within the community. We also direct great attention to learning from ecological systems and implementing a similar structure within the human systems in which we create. I believe the work I would participate in during my time in this course would provide me with practical, real life applications of the concepts I am already learning in my grad program at PSU. In addition to providing me with real life application of sustainability work this opportunity would also provide me with Spanish language immersion. I am currently working on learning and mastering the Spanish language at PSU. My goal is to graduate in 2017 with a Masters of Arts. I have been taking Spanish courses on campus but I am more than certain that a study abroad experience in a native Spanish speaking country would help me reach my language goals more quickly, and would provide me with a more solid foundation. Being given the opportunity to travel to Peru for this time would contribute greatly to my success within my grad program, in learning Spanish and would influence my future career goals. Upon my graduation from Portland State University, I hope to work with underprivileged communities around the world surrounding sustainability work and sustainability education. This opportunity would give me experience working with diverse peoples around the world and would greatly inform my professional practice.

For this trip I will be traveling from Lima to Huaraz spending 16 days in Huaraz. During that time I will need to pay for transportation from the airport, to Huaraz and housing/food costs for the entire 16 days. After Huaraz I will be traveling back to Lima and flying to Cuzco for an additional five days. During this time I will need to pay for flights, and housing/ food costs. My initial breakdown is below: Housing:$250 Flights:$1000 Food:$250