Hello everyone! My name is Paulina Viera Zambrano. I’m currently a rising Senior (class of 2024) at Vintage High School and one of the three interns with the Napa Sierra Club Group. This summer I applied and got accepted into one of the Pre-College programs at Brown University, which is an Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island. The pre-college program, called Summer@Brown, offered a variety of different courses from which students could pick. Courses involved classes in the fields of environmental science, math studies, medical studies, language studies, history studies, art studies, etc. I wanted to share with you some of my experiences with both. (All photos by the author.)

Because of my love for the environment and for nature, I decided to enroll in a course involving the environment. Since Rhode Island is right next to the Atlantic Ocean, I decided to take a course involving the ocean. This course was called Setting Sail: History of the Water, and was taught by Dr. Rebecca Marisseau. This class was about two weeks long and in the course of these two weeks our class learned about the history, fauna, and flora of the New England coastal region, including Rhode Island. Being able to learn about these topics and to experience the East Coast in Rhode Island was a truly memorable experience which I very much appreciated.

The Setting Sail course was one of the courses that included many hands-on activities which required sailing, kayaking, and taking boats to various different locations such as historic landmarks and libraries. Unfortunately, due to the stormy weather conditions, our class was not able to participate in some of the hands-on activities the first couple of days. Therefore, we stayed inside a classroom and learned about the history of both the land in Rhode Island and the ocean water alongside the states of New England.

We learned about history from the times of early mariners and pirates to the late 19th Century and up to today. We even had the luck to see, touch, and read important historical diaries, maps, and artifacts written by people who lived before the 19th Century. These objects were related to various historical topics such as the arrival of colonizers, the slave trade, and indigenous life before and after the states of New England were colonized.

One of the topics that especially sparked my interest was the indigenous history and their impact on New England. The Wampanoag tribe was one of the major indigenous tribes in New England and in Rhode Island. Through various class lessons, I learned that indigenous tribes, such as the Wampanoag people, managed to live in equality and tranquility with the natural ecosystem. In one of our class lessons, we watched a video on the creation of the Mishoon watercraft, which is an indigenous watercraft that members of the Wampanoag used to travel the waters of New England. Darius Coombs, the person explaining the process for the creation of the watercraft in the video, is actually a member of the Wampanoag tribe. He helps run the Plymouth Plantation’s Wampanoag Indigenous Program which is designed to pass down Wampanoag traditions and history stories to the younger generations.

At the end of the Mishoon creation tutorial, Coombs explained that the wood taken from the trees to build the Mishoon watercraft is first honored through a small ritual, which involves performing a prayer to the tree to show appreciation to it. Coombs explained that this is because trees have life - that all life is sacred - whether it is the life of a tree, of an animal, or of a human. He explained that in his community’s beliefs, all life is equal, humans are not above any living organism. Because of this, humans should respect and honor all life. I reflected on Coombs' words and came to realize that that belief of equality between all living organisms was the reason why indigenous tribes stayed in balance with nature, which also gave both the environment and the people a state of good health.

Later, once the weather got better, our class was able to move from the in-class lectures into several hands-on activities. We first went to the Mystic Sea Port in Connecticut in which we learned about the culture of a typical seafaring village in the 19th century and the practice of whaling. We even got to board a real whaling ship - the Charles W. Morgan.

Our class also boarded a boat and traveled to the site where the Gaspee ship was burned, which was the first major armed act of rebellion against the British enacted by the colonists. We also kayaked through Wickford, Rhode Island and learned about the fauna and flora species located around the area. We visited Smith’s Castle in these kayaks, which has a small museum that contains the history of the slave trade and the overall trading systems around Rhode Island.

Our last, and one of my favorite watercraft experiences, was the four-hour sailing journey from Newport to Bristol Rhode Island in which our class basically did a wrap up of all of the topics and activities that we had covered throughout our course, including some of our biggest take-aways.

One of my biggest take-aways from the program was, as discussed earlier, learning about the beliefs and ideas of the Wampanoag tribe, which holds that all life is believed to be equal, whether it is the life of a tree, an animal, or a human. This idea is what used to maintain balance between indigenous peoples and the natural environment in America before the colonists arrived.

I too believe that it would be beneficial for today’s people to consider this idea of equality between all living organisms. I believe that if this idea was held by all of us, there would be more respect towards the natural environment, which in turn would improve its overall health. Apart from this idea of equality, there are many other ideas and beliefs that people can adopt and take into consideration from indigenous communities and traditions that can help bring back some of the balance and harmony that people had with the natural environment before colonization. 

If you would like to learn more about the Summer@Brown programs, please go to their website, here.