She wanted to go to college close to home, and ended up traveling across the country instead. So it comes as no surprise that California native Kai Carter '06 will go halfway around the world next year to pursue her passion for environmental health.
Carter is a winner of a Rotary Club Ambassadorial Scholarship, which will allow her to study at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji next year. She said she is excited about the "once in a lifetime opportunity."
Although she is not leaving until February 2007 because of differences between the academic calendars of the United States and Fiji, Carter said she is already "really excited (to) experience the other side of the world. ... It's always been a goal of mine to experience everything I can."
Carter wasn't always passionate about environmental health, the study of the relationships between environmental conditions and human health. Her interest in environmental health was piqued by a class she took with Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Rachel Morello-Frosch, which "opened up a whole new world for me," she said.
Morello-Frosch met Carter her sophomore year and said Carter has always shown an "immense amount of initiative and pursued a lot of opportunities beyond the classroom."
"The thing I love about her as a student is that she is extremely inquisitive. (She) asks really controversial questions," Morello-Frosch added. "It's really a gift when you have a student like that."
Carter "pushes herself to excel in everything she does," Morello-Frosch said.
Carter said she ended up at Brown only because "my dad dragged me on a college tour of the East Coast." And although it was the only East Coast university to which she applied, Brown's liberal curriculum was appealing enough to draw her to the Ocean State. Looking back at the decision, Carter said, "I wouldn't have chosen any other place to go to school."
Carter has already traveled plenty during her undergraduate career. She planned to study in Cuba during her junior year but was prevented from doing so by legislation passed just months before her scheduled departure. As a result, she decided at the last minute to go to the Dominican Republic, where she developed a "love-hate relationship" with the country. Although she usually did not have water or electricity, she said she loved the "interaction with people" and even enjoyed "living in a different lifestyle."
Despite her struggles to adapt and overcome the language barrier, she said she found the experience worthwhile.
Carter had the opportunity to take a class with the Haitian ambassador to the Dominican Republic and enjoyed "learning from someone who had so much international experience." She also spent time interning at the Nature Conservancy there, where she developed an environmental education curriculum for tourists. The internship also gave her the opportunity to go to environmental conferences and work with scholars from around the world.
Lilla Fisher '06 met Carter as a first-year when, after passing each other on the way to their early morning classes every day, they discovered that Fisher's godmother was Carter's cousin. They have considered themselves relatives ever since. Fisher calls Carter "passionate about the environment, passionate with the children in her family (and about) the future of America." Carter is "really just good at being a friend. ... She's the type of person who can get along with anyone."
According to Assistant Professor of International Studies Simone Pulver, who served as Carter's concentration adviser and has also taught her in the classroom and worked with her at the Watson Institute, Carter's "stellar career" at Brown has been distinguished by her dedication to "getting a breadth of experiences." She added that Carter is "very high-energy, very outgoing and very committed," a combination that "not that many people have."
Recruited for softball, Carter took up rugby at Brown. Her rugby coach, Kerrissa Heffernan, said Carter is "intensely competitive and focused on the field." The team qualified for nationals Carter's first year, Heffernan said, in large part because of Carter, a player who "doesn't lose her cool" and is a "a very quick learner."
Heffernan also knows Carter through the Swearer Center, where Carter volunteered to work with girls from low-income families at Sofia Academy in Providence. Four years after beginning her work with the program, Carter is now the coordinator of the after-school Write project. "What she did has been so impressive," Heffernan said, pointing out that Carter has recruited many students of color to work at the diverse school.
Heffernan said she would love to see Carter go into teaching, but she can imagine her as any sort of leader. She is sure that Carter will be "running some part of the world soon."
Pulver said Carter's ability as a communicator and teacher was evident in class. She said Carter is "a really good educator" and hopes she uses her skill as a teacher in the future. In Fiji, Carter will "make a wonderful ambassador, both of Brown and of the United States," Pulver said.
Morello-Frosch said Carter will be effective at making connections between her dual passions for health and the environment in whatever she does.
Morello-Frosch said Carter is "definitely ready to take what she has learned in a classroom and try and apply (it) in the real world." She has a way of combining "thinking and doing (that will help her) promote progressive social change," Morello-Frosch added.
When she returns from Fiji, Carter hopes to work in environmental health on the international level and plans on taking the Foreign Service exam, though she thinks she "would be happy in a lot of places." One thing she does know for sure - she wants to be somewhere where she "can make a difference."
