Tuesday, November 9, 2010

cutting edge: advanced studies

"It's the latest thing!" UAC-CP Veterinary Science graduate Reyna Carrizales told me last Saturday when she surprised me with a visit to my office. "It's great that the UAC-CP is offering this program," she said, referring to the College's new post-graduate diploma program that focuses on developing businesses to specifically serve Bolivia's rural area.

Reyna Carrizales is a 2009 UAC-CP graduate and is currently registered in a post-graduate diploma program at the College.

The South Yungas native said the specialty program (which requires her to travel to Carmen Pampa every other weekend for two, long days of classes) is very applicable to her current job where she works as a health inspector for a unique slaughter house that serves llama breeders in Bolivia's Altiplano. In her free time, Reyna has been helping an association of poor farmers from the Altiplano organize themselves to sell llama jerky. "Everyone I work with is very excited for me that I'm registered in this diploma program," she said. "Because they know it will only make me a better employee."

Reyna graduated from the College last year after defending her thesis--a research project that focused on the cleanliness of the slaughterhouse in the nearby town of Coroico. She researched different types of disinfectants and application processes to determine the most effective way to kill microorganisms. "The objective of my thesis was to improve the health of people in Coroico," she said.

As a result of her work, Reyna was able to respond to the needs of the people of the people from the rural area to help address a community problem. "That is what a thesis has to do," Reyna explained, "respond to a problem in a simple way and in a way that the average person or farmer from the rural area can understand the solution and affordably implement changes."

Today, Reyna is applying both her thesis project and her post-graduate diploma studies to her professional career.  "We graduate from the UAC-CP confident in our abilities to be able to create change."

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