20/21 Womxn's Backcountry Scholarship Recipients - Page 3 of 4

Second-Place Recipient

We have selected Andrea Salinas (she/her/hers) as the second-place 20/21 Womxn’s Backcountry Scholarship Recipient. We were super impressed with her life story, and how she came to find a passion for conservation biology through her work with underserved backgrounds, as well as her drive to dive into various outdoor activities.

20/21 Womxn's Backcountry Scholarship Recipient - Andrea Salinas3 — Andrea Salinas

Andrea’s Essay

Growing up in El Salvador allowed me to be surrounded by tropical landscapes and volcanos but never snow. The snowfalls were only these magical events with tiny white spots I could only experience through movies and documentaries. Even through a T.V. screen, these landscapes covered in these white layers had the power to spark this silly excitement driven by curiosity. Once I moved to the United States at the age of 14, my main focus became about learning a new language and adapting to a new environment and less about exploring. Now I was surrounded by hundreds of buildings and cars and extremely fast life. Once I moved to college in Merced, California; I became determined to look for every opportunity that would allow me to spend time out in nature. Eventually, I was fortunate to spend a summer in Yosemite National Park as part of the YOSAR team which served as an inspiration to create a capstone project within my community working with high schoolers with underserved backgrounds. Witnessing the joy that being outdoors for the first time had brought to every participant, made it clear to me that I wanted to continue my studies in conservation Biology after completing my B.S degree in Human Biology. Now in grad school, my research involves the study of bacterial communities living inside and outside plants present in forest ecosystems. 60% of the time is spent collecting samples in the backcountry during different seasons. This means not only being exposed to long hours in the field but as well to different conditions such as very high or low temperatures, rain, mud, and snow. I personally, enjoy all the unpredictability that comes with being out in the field, making it every time a different experience with very different lessons to learn no matter how prepared you think you might be. The winter of 2019 was my first time having to do fieldwork during a snowy day in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which meant I would finally get to experience snow! But also, I would be required to backcountry ski for the very first time ever to my collection sites. Getting to ski has been one of the most challenging activities, as someone that mostly hikes and is used to warm temperatures but at the same time, one of the most beautiful and exhilarating ones which tested both my patience and endurance. As an immigrant Latinx, I have been constantly finding avenues to be able to immerse myself in outdoor activities such as hiking and backpacking through internships and borrowed gear. Owning my very first skiing gear would be a necessary tool to complete my fieldwork throughout the course of my doctoral degree; but also, would provide me with the access to enjoy white snowy mountains in a community that still has many barriers to individuals with similar backgrounds as mine. I am excited to take upon more challenges and experience many split boarding trips, many snowboarding falls, but plenty of more lessons and more sense of belonging within the backcountry community.