By Tess Miller ’27
- Scholarship aid and internship grants are opening global, hands-on learning opportunities—from wetlands research in Oregon to immersive fieldwork and community-based environmental studies in Costa Rica.
- Co-curricular experiences are shaping Scripps students’ career paths, helping them explore diverse real-world opportunities, build professional connections, and gain confidence in their future field.
For Chase Allbritton ’28, her Scripps education lies not only in classrooms and native plants on campus, but also in Portland, Oregon, where she spent a summer conducting environmental analysis in the wetland forests, and now, Costa Rica.
“I wanted to study abroad for two semesters because learning from perspectives around the world is an incredible opportunity,” she says.
Allbritton, an environmental analysis major, is able to partake in national and global opportunities, which she says are invaluable to her educational journey at Scripps, because of scholarship aid and internship grants.
Studying Abroad
Allbritton is currently studying abroad in Costa Rica, and plans on studying in Ecuador, Morocco, and Nepal for the fall semester.
“I have conducted field surveys in different bioregions, lived in homestays across the country, and learned about sustainable initiatives and the challenges they must overcome,” she says. “I spent time in a small town to conduct an independent investigation into medicinal plants. Through community interviews, I am learning recipes, what gardening means to different people, and how knowledge of healing has been passed down through generations.”
Allbritton has also been able to expand her understanding of environmental justice by meeting and speaking to people who have been directly affected by injustice. “It’s different to be reading about it in class and then to have really impactful conversations with people,” she says.
Summer Internships
The Scripps Career Planning & Resources office (CP&R) offers internship grants each year to increase access to professional opportunities, regardless of pay.
“It is an incredible opportunity for students that want to intern for smaller organizations,” says Allbritton, who applied for summer internship grants twice. “Even if these organizations aren’t hiring officially, by reaching out early and sharing that you may be able to fund yourself, you can build a position that supports their work and your personal goals.”
Allbritton worked for Bark, an organization based in Oregon who work to restore and preserve Mount Hood.
“This opportunity was really valuable to me, I realized there’s a place for me in environmental work,” says Allbritton.
Allbritton will work for the Portland Food Forest Initiative this summer, another position she was able to take because of CP&R’s grant.
These grants are not only providing funding for students, but they are also creating opportunities. “These internships are helping me to both establish roots in Portland and explore different environmental paths,” says Allbritton.
On Campus
Allbritton is involved in several clubs within the 5Cs—the Scripps Student Garden, Outdoor Wilderness Leaders (OWL), and Scripps Environmental Education and Development (SEED). She has spent a lot of time becoming an expert on Scripps’ collection of native plants. Last semester, she created a guide to the native plants on Scripps’ campus and a watercolor poster with over 30 individual local specimens. Albritton then conducted a plant tour, which she hopes to continue when she returns from studying abroad in spring 2027.
“I love the Scripps Student Garden,” she says. “I have a beautiful memory of eating pie made with fresh rhubarb from the garden while watching Fantastic Mr. Fox. The club is so friendly and I’m really excited to help out when I get back.”
Allbritton has also planned her own events, like the first ever 5C Sustainability Summit with the Office of Sustainability where she partnered with SEED. Allbritton said that this event was “a step towards unity and collaboration across different environmental groups and movements in the consortium.”
“During the event, we had conversations about our hopes for institutional sustainability, how to communicate across political differences and also organizational longevity,” she explains.
In addition to the summit, Allbritton planned an event celebrating beavers as a keystone species, featuring live music and a sound bath.
And, she still has time to go to class.
“I’ve really loved my environmental analysis major classes,” says Allbritton. “I’ve also loved my classes that are more centered on writing or aren’t necessarily specific to environmentalism but are about broadening my worldview and learning from different perspectives.”
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