Doing

• Preparing for a Master’s program in Colorado. Starting in Fall 2026, I’ll be a Coverdell Fellow at Colorado School of Mines studying humanitarian engineering. I received some really great scholarships to a really great school. I almost went to CSM for my undergrad but the cost was too much so I’m excited for the opportunity to attend later. Humanitarian engineering is quite niche but it’s exactly what I want to spend my career doing—serving others with technical skills and expertise. I’ve sat in on some meetings and read some books on the topic. I like how everything uses the same kind of language and concepts that I learned in Peace Corps.
• Administering programs for Oregon farmers. I started working at the USDA Farm Service Agency in March. It’s not really aligned with my skillset but I’m getting quite a lot of satisfaction from being a federal employee. I help farmers fill out paperwork and apply for federal programs to help alleviate some of the financial stress they are under.

Learning

• Svelte. I’d like to level up my front-end web development skills. I’m also really interested in fun, whimsical “micro-animations” that I think Svelte would work great for. Plus, it’s really easy to plug into Astro islands.
• Spanish. I’ve now proven to myself that I can, in fact, learn other languages. Spanish has always been something I’ve wanted to learn because of all the Spanish speakers that are in the US. Not to mention that it opens up many countries to travel to and lots of content on the internet. I do flashcards daily and listen to Radio Ambulante for new words.
• Sketching. I recently picked up a previous gen iPad for school. I’ve always wanted to learn basic drawing skills. Certainly not artist-level, just enough to get ideas out of my head in a recognizable way. “Urban sketching” or “rough sketching” is as close as I found for the style I’m going for.

Reading

• These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. I’ve never really been interested in history. I have been enjoying 99% Invisible’s Breakdown of the Constitution podcast series. Jill Lepore was a guest to talk about Article V. Incredible writing and not dense at all despite being a whirlwind of American history.
• Engineering and Sustainable Community Development by Juan Lucena, Jon A. Leydens, Jen Schneider, and Samantha Temple. A textbook from CSM faculty. I’m excited to start in the Fall and wanted to get some context. Really good stuff in here.

Last updated 2026-05-09