Hello everyone, my name is Arilyn Oatman! I am 23 years old and I am originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Living in Pennsylvania, I loved to visit Hershey Park, visit the Amish markets, and see historical sights like Gettysburg or the Liberty Bell. I love to read books, spend time with my friends, and travel of course!
For college, I left Pennsylvania and went halfway across the country to Iowa State University so that I could study Global Resource Systems (Globe as we liked to call it). Globe is the study of how the world uses its resources and how we can do that more sustainably. I focused my studies on food insecurity, nutrition, and education. I enjoyed learning about how the world works and how I can help to make our Earth a better place to live.
For my final project in college, I spent the summer in Kenya studying the relationship between women’s education and their household food security while also teaching at a local primary school. I was able to talk with women in the community and learn about why they think school is important. In a lot of countries, kids do not get to go to school like we do in the U.S. So, when I was teaching, I thought it was really cool how the students valued their education.
