STUDENT EXPERIENCE: HAWAII

Sofia A Zayas Randel, University of Pennsylvania

 "In January 2023, I traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii to participate in an externship at the Hawaii Wildlife Center. My first week I took as vacation to explore the island and learn more about the culture of Hawaii. I visited volcanoes, saw petroglyphs, was on top of the world at Mauna Loa, walked on black sand beaches and lava fields, visited waterfalls and lava tubes, swam with the fish, and learned to surf. Each new adventure brought me to feel a closer connection to nature. I had revelations not only of the external world but also of my interior as the island humbled me and made me reflect about how we are all interconnected and the role I play in the world. 

Everyone on the island was incredibly friendly and treated me as if I were a local. They would share with me their stories, recommendations of places to visit on the island, and even food (from pizza to backyard picked oranges). I learned a lot about the history of the island and discovered that my own Puerto Rican heritage was interconnected with Hawaii’s history. In the early 1900s, Puerto Ricans traveled to Hawaii to work at the sugar cane plantations as they were promised a decent salary and living accommodations. Many Puerto Ricans emigrated to the island, and the influence that my culture has had in Hawaii’s is evident by the signs of food vendors selling arroz con gandules, lechón, and pasteles; Puerto Rican flag stickers on some of the cars, and my own native coquí filling up the night with its sweet songs. I even met a Puerto Rican woman who worked at a goat farm, and she was so overjoyed when she discovered I was Puerto Rican and we began speaking in English. From that conversation I got free samples of the different goat products they produced, and with my purchase of goat cheese she added some fudge free of charge because that’s what kindred spirits do for each other.

For the two weeks that I was at my externship, I stayed in a small town Honokaa. This was one of the original towns that was established because of the sugar cane plantations. Here is where I learned about the history of my people and how integrated it is with Hawaii’s. The Hawaii Wildlife Center was located in Kapauu, and I had to drive everyday from Honokaa to Kapauu. Every day the drive was peaceful and beautiful. I’d pass by ranches filled with beef cows and horses, and climb up hills from which I could get a clear view of the ocean and the expansive greenness of the island. The Big Island of Hawaii is not as densely populated as other islands like Oahu. In between each city or town there was just nature.

From day one the externships was very hands-on. I am incredibly grateful of the immense trust Dr. Guerra had with me and the patience and dedication he had to teach me. While I was there I was responsible of so many tasks, some of the most notable being placing an oral esophageal tube in a Nene (Hawaiian Goose) daily, performing physical therapy exercises with the birds, assisting with anesthesia during surgical procedures, releasing birds back into the wild, and performing two necropsies on White Terns. I learned so much about avian medicine, anatomy and physiology. I really do believe this experience has shaped me to be not only to be a better veterinarian in the future but also holistically as a person."