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800.257.7751
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802.258.3388
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802.258.3508
Mailing Address:
PO Box 676, 1 Kipling Road
Brattleboro, VT 05302 USA
The Experiment in International Living
Unlocking Potential:
Global Climate Change
"What keeps bringing me back to the Experiment are the kinds of people that are quite inspirational"
--Adrienne Keller
The Experiment in International Living
- Founded in 1932 with the aim of changing the world one friendship at a time, The Experiment in International Living has introduced more than 70,000 young people to international issues.
- Each summer, challenging summer abroad programs in 30 countries help 1,000 high school students develop a close connection with the people and culture of another country.
Adrienne Keller
Botswana and Costa Rica may be continents away but for Adrienne Keller the similarities of these two nations under a common planet are greater than their differences.
Though Adrienne Keller no longer spends her summers with The Experiment in International Living, her experiences with The Experiment continue to inform her work in environmental research as a Ph.D student in forestry.
Keller first traveled with the Experiment to Botswana in 2001. Since then, she has been a group leader three times over, twice to Botswana and once to South Africa.
"What keeps bringing me back to the Experiment are the different kinds of people that are really quite inspirational," Keller said.
These human connections inspire the scientific work that she conducts in the rainforests of Costa Rica. Her research is focused on how carbon is cycled and released through forest ecosystems, and how that carbon will affect global climate change.
Amidst all the dense calculations, Keller says it is easy to forget about the real goal. "What's the human impact? That's a question I've been asking myself a lot." Keller plans to put her degree to use advocating for environmental policy change on an international scale. She credits the Experiment with inspiring her to work globally on environmental issues.
Recently Keller took a break from her research to collaborate on a digital story with co-group leaders Michael Wlodarski and Alewa Cooper. The story is about her Experiment group's first encounter with a homestay community in Otse, and the similarities that she found between her family back home and her new family in Botswana. It is a story that depicts the global connection that guides Keller's work every day.