Ethan who worked at the State of New Mexico Office of Science & Technology

"Santa Fe is truly a beautiful city.  For those not familiar with it, the culture can be very strange and even hard to find, but it’s worthwhile to experience.  My favorite part was by far the landscape.  Northern NM offers fantastic hiking, and I saw some of the most beautiful country of my life this summer.  If you travel at all, you see a very active and kind population.  Everywhere we went, people had suggestions for the next place to go, and the hikers were some of the nicest people I’ve met. Going up Kitchen Mesa with Gary was by far my favorite trip of the summer.  We got up early and were out there before the heat.  Every section of the hike offered a new and stunning vista.   And it was not very long, so we spent as much time as we needed to fool around and take pictures.  Looking over Abiquiu Lake from the top was a fantastic experience that I can carry with me the rest of my life."

Gary who worked at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

"I made art, I made a difference, I made money – this summer was wonderful.  You know you had a great summer experience when you come home ready to go to school.  I often felt like I was both working and on vacation at the same time, and felt productive and relaxed, which is a great combination.  I also feel like I’m coming away with a strong understanding of a different world (as I’d been traveling the world), but also profoundly feeling like I’d made a difference in America, and helped make a small change in a city where, as far as education goes, change is so very necessary...My mentor Alex was amazing – in some ways, he was just as important if not more important than the Yale students in giving me a social foundation in Santa Fe.  I spent a lot of time at his house with him and his partner Yon, which always felt like I was with family."