A CHANCE for Change
十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校的校友安吉·斯帕诺里(Angie Spagnoli)明年将前往罗马尼亚，作为该校一个旨在保护环境的项目的一部分.
Conservation is hard work.
But Angie Spagnoli lives for it. A Penn State 阿尔图纳 alumna, 她正准备返回那个激发她对自然保护热情的地方. She’s happiest in the forest, 在湿地, 当她对世界产生积极影响的时候，她也会在没脚踝深的水里.
斯帕诺里于2018年毕业于十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校，获得文学学士学位 environmental studies 和 生物学. During her time at the college, she participated in several undergraduate 研究 projects, even presenting her findings at the Undergraduate 研究 和 Creative Activities Fair, winning first place each year she participated.
Having grown up with a naturalist father, 斯帕诺里在很小的时候就对自然产生了极大的欣赏，并且一直知道她想要从事环境研究. But in 2015, she traveled to 哥斯达黎加 和 Panama with the 通过保护体验连接人与自然(CHANCE)项目. It was this trip that changed her life.
The Caribbean Sea off the coast of Panama
Credit: Provided
CHANCE是十大网投平台信誉排行榜的一个国际环境教育项目，旨在培养学生成为具有全球意识的公民，了解恢复和保护地球生态系统生物多样性的重要性. It also trains them to address challenges such as energy, 水, climate change, 和 protecting species 和 critical habitats.
Spagnoli 和 Mclaughlin at the turtle station in 哥斯达黎加
Credit: Provided
杰奎琳·麦克劳克林(Jacqueline Mclaughlin)是CHANCE的创始主任，也是十大网投平台信誉排行榜利哈伊谷分校的生物学副教授. “Conservation involves knowing how an ecosystem works, how it’s broken, 和 how to repair it,” she explains. “In field conservation work, 我们分析和诊断生态系统的生物多样性是否健康, then fight for its survival. And nearly all ecosystems on this planet are broken right now.”
CHANCE通过其海外短期学习国际实地课程创造了独特的学习环境，让参与者沉浸在现实世界的环境研究和保护工作中.
在巴拿马，Spagnoli帮助保护了8英里海滩上的海龟免受偷猎者的侵害. 为了安全起见，她还将海龟蛋运送到岸边的孵化场，并收集海龟种群密度和健康状况的数据. 在La Selva, 这是哥斯达黎加的一段雨林，专门用于保护和研究, 她研究了生长在其他树木上的花朵植物池中无脊椎动物群落的生物多样性, called bromeliads.
“当你把一个年轻人带出他们的舒适区，把他们带到一个地方，让他们能真正亲眼看到世界上正在发生的事情——真正看到浪费和污染的数量——这是改变生活的,” says Spagnoli. “You can't unsee that. Traveling with CHANCE was my ‘a-ha’ moment. 我意识到我可以用科学作为保护环境的工具. Ever since, that's been my focus. It just consumes me, 和 it truly is because of that program.”
Spagnoli站在她在研究中取样的一棵高跷根棕榈树旁边
Credit: Provided
The following year, 麦克劳克林邀请斯帕诺里作为田野和教学助理随CHANCE一起旅行, an opportunity she seized without question. 现在, 她再次被邀请以同样的身份与Mclaughlin和CHANCE一起旅行, this time to Romania in 2022.
“Angie is hardcore. She has a calling to do conservation work, 和 she lives 和 portrays conservation,” states Mclaughlin. “CHANCE isn’t a party ship. It’s challenging work. Angie致力于CHANCE，我相信她能帮助带领学生.”
CHANCE Romania 2021将包括8名宾州州立大学的学生和8名罗马尼亚学生. The binational group will study, 研究, 并为当今多瑙河三角洲面临的水问题制定解决方案, e.g.微塑料、藻华以及废水和肥料污染造成的营养过剩. They will also work with the Carpathian Conservation Foundation, 致力于保护和恢复喀尔巴阡山脉自然生态系统的受人尊敬的组织.
感谢麦克劳克林培养了她对环保的热情，并提供了指导, Spagnoli describes being asked to assist with CHANCE, not once but twice, as an incredible honor. “Dr. 麦克劳克林选择我是因为她看到了我对环境保护的热情. 这让我觉得我所做的是值得的，我在帮助别人，我在改变世界. That's my goal, to change this world for future generations.”
Spagnoli walking through the La Selva wetl和s in 哥斯达黎加
Credit: Provided
Inspired by her first trip with CHANCE all those years ago, 斯帕诺里继续倡导和领导湿地恢复和再造林项目, invasive plant removal initiatives, 以及当地溪流和河流的清理工作——所有这些都是她在宾夕法尼亚印第安纳大学攻读保护生物学和湿地硕士学位的时候做的. 她的研究重点是本地和非本地植物物种之间的能量转移到更高的营养水平, including insect 和 bird predation. 她希望在2021年12月毕业后在英联邦获得湿地生物学家的就业机会.
斯帕诺里敦促我们所有人通过教育自己了解生物多样性的重要性来分担保护的责任, 栖息地的丧失, 污染, 和 climate change, then making even small changes to help.
“花点时间回馈社会，即使一年只有几次去种树之类的. You will get so much satisfaction out of that. And it will become infectious.”
Spagnoli st和s in the Las Tortugas station in Barra de Pacuare, 哥斯达黎加, where she helped plant a medicinal garden for the locals.
Credit: Provided
在La Selva研究高脚根棕榈树根系内的幼苗建立, 哥斯达黎加
Credit: Provided
