Pi Phi Summer Days (Alumnae Edition); Brittany

Welcome to week four of Pi Phi Summer Days where we feature one of our lovely MD Gamma ladies and talk about whatever fascinating things they're doing this summer! This post, like the last is one of our Alumnae Editions! Side note: how is it august already? There's only a month left of freedom before school starts! Ain't nobody got time for that.

Nevertheless, today we're featuring the fabulous, the amazing, none other than the matriarch of the taco pham, Brittany T., everybody!! 

Hailing from Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, Brittany graduated in May along with many other MD Gamma charter class members. She was a member the Sirens, Hopkins's female acapella group, pre-med, and now has an official day named after her in her hometown (for real, guys).

Since she graduated from Hopkins she has been living in Hinche, Haiti, working with an NGO there called Midwives for Haiti. The organization's main goal is to decrease birth-related infant and mother mortality rates in Haiti. 

Congratulations, Britanny! We know you're going to go far.

"Their primary focus is the midwifery school that they run, as well as a teaching program for community birth attendants. They run a mobile clinic, where graduates of our midwifery program go out to remote villages in a big pink jeep and provide pre- and post-natal care to women who otherwise don't have access to maternity care. As the In-Country Coordinator, or the only American from organization who is in the country full-time, my job is to coordinate all things to do with volunteers (like transportation, translators, food, etc.), supplies for the mobile clinic/hospital/classes, house maintenance (I'm basically a host for up to 12 people at a time, and to see to the needs of any midwifery students, any matrons, any instructors, staff, or volunteers. It's a busy job!"

Congratulations on this amazing opportunity, Britanny; we know you're going to change so many lives. We wish you all the best and hope to see you soon!

PPL & M,

Gaby

 

Pi Phi Summer Days (Alumnae Edition) ; Nicole

On the third week of blogging, my sisters gave to me:

Twelve founding sisters

Eleven spirit wear orders

Ten recruitment chants

Nine exec members

Eight vice-presidents

Seven members of grand council

Six Pi Phi Values

Five sorority squats

Four date parties

Three days of greek "week"

Two semi-formals

And a new post for the pi phi blog

Welcome to The Hunger Games! Wait- no wrong event. Welcome to the newest week of Pi Phi Summer Days! I sincerely apologize for "Twelve days of Pi Phi", but even though it is the summer, I have the Twelve Days of Christmas stuck in my head.

Nevertheless, drumroll please, welcome a recently graduated Pi Phi sister (and my former coworker), Nicole! Nicole is a graduated senior and while at Hopkins she majored in Archaeology and Classics. She enjoys studying abroad in Scotland (she spent a year abroad!), eating at Mums, shopping online, and finding new and interesting places to eat. Before she goes off to get her Master's degree in the United Kingdom, she is interning in the Anthropology Department at the National Museum of Natural History.

Werkin' it in her initiation whites

"As an intern, I will be researching primarily on the Cattle Oiler site at the Missouri River Basin. It is a Native American site from the Initial Middle Missouri and Extended Missouri periods. It's primarily a two-part internship that includes a research component and a practical, hands-on collections management component. I am assigned to develop a research question (especially on the topic of culture contact), do research, and write a blog post on the Rogers Archaeology Lab blog. ... The other part of my job is to help catalog the archaeological artifacts from the Missouri River Basin excavations at the Museum Support Center in Suitland, MD. Lastly, as an intern with the Smithsonian, I am encouraged to attend lectures, presentations, and talks hosted by the institution in order to get a better grasp of how a museum runs on an every day basis and to learn about all the other research projects the curators and researchers are conducting. Dr. Rogers [the head of the lab] is an Adjunct Professor at GW and runs his classes at the Museum, and I have been able to attend those as well."

On her first day day as an intern she was able to sit in a class that had a guest speaker talking about the intentionality and impact of a museum and its responsibility to adhere to its mission, values, and goals. She hope to do the same in the future and combine her love of museums with the important values she learned as a charter member. 

"... this internship has been an awesome, valuable, and eye-opening experience so far. I am making all-important connections, learning a lot about museum research, museum functions, and archaeology in general. Being in the Natural History Museum is a dream come true and affirms my love for museums and my aim for a museum career. [One of the best parts] I get to go behind-the-scenes and get discounts at the gift shop and cafe!"

We wish all the best with your internship and hope to see you soon!

PPL & M,
Gaby

P.S. Nicole, don't leave me. You better see me when I go abroad!!

Pi Phi Summer Days; Ali

Yes, I know. I said I'd be back soon. And here I am (I take the definition of soon rather liberally). Many PPL apologies!

For the next installment, I bring you Ali. Ali is a rising junior and majoring in Archaeology and minoring in museum studies. She is an avid fan of Steven Colbert, mustaches, and salsa dancing in the moonlight. For five weeks this summer, however, she has traveled all the way to Europe to participate in an archaeological field school in Spain. 

Embodying the spanish flair while abroad!

"I'm currently in Sant llorenc de montgai, Spain (1 hour west of Barcelona in the southeastern Pyrenees). This field school teaches undergraduates (there are 4 other girls in the program from colleges in the USA and Canada and possibly some students from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) important information about field work methods, lab techniques, artifact analysis, and object conservation. We'll be working at a site called Cova Gran (Big Cave in Catalan) to learn about the differences between Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human behavior as well as transition from hunter-gatherer to shepherd-farmer practices." 

Since the archaeology major at Hopkins requires field school credit to promote the importance the applying the methods and theories they learn at Hopkins to real archaeological sites, Ali specifically chose this program based on her previous interests. Ali follows in the path of her big, Bonnie, who is currently on a professional dig in Italy!

"I specifically chose the Cova Gran field school because I am especially interested in Neanderthal history and culture. Not many undergraduate digs provide the opportunity to study prehistorical sites--so I am ridiculously excited! Plus I love to eat dinner on the later side, and since we are in Spain, dinner is at 10pm!"

You can find a picture of the gorgeous town Ali is studying in here. And a picture of the epic site is located here (be careful, Ali)! 



We wish you the best of luck for your internship and see you in the Fall! 

PPL & M,
Gabrielle