As the culmination of work completed in a Trent course, a group of undergraduate students recently enjoyed the opportunity to travel abroad to present their findings at an international conference.

In the Integrated Watershed Management course (ERSC-GEOG 4640H), students developed management plans for six watersheds in Canada and Mexico. Two of the watersheds, Grijalva and Candelaria, are in the same region of Mexico, which inspired the local agencies to organize the conference.

“The motto of this course is ‘learn by doing,’” said Dr. Raul Ponce-Hernandez, the course instructor. “Normally, the students present their recommendations to a single client, but in this case the two watersheds decided to host an international workshop that included universities, government agencies, and an international development bank.”

The presentation at a workshop on the impacts of climate change in southeast Mexico took place on April 30, 2015 at the Colegio de Postgraduados in Cardenas, Mexico.

“It was a little overwhelming but also a great experience to present at that level,” said Rita Oates, a third year student majoring in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. She noted that the other presenters were scientists with established backgrounds.

Emily Olmstead, who is in her third year of the Environmental Resource Sciences program, praised the hands-on learning experience. “Modelling in the lab can’t replace field work,” she said. “This experience is adding to our classroom knowledge.  Now I know what it’s like to present to government agencies and moving forward it will be easier to speak at conferences.”

During the ten days spent in Mexico the group was exposed to other learning opportunities, including an experimental farm, an old-growth forest, and a chocolate factory, as well as the watersheds they had studied.

“You put blood, sweat and tears into this project for three months, but you’ve never actually seen the land,” Ms. Oates said. “We were able to visualize our work.”

“Our presence sparked the interest for the agencies and universities to collaborate by forming a climate change consortium,” Prof. Ponce-Hernandez said. “They want us to be part of the consortium and future classes could contribute to that.”

“And we have the opportunity to stay connected with them,” Ms. Oates added. “If we foresee ourselves working in this field we can come back and expand on the work we’ve done on these watersheds.”