Meet Timandra Rowan ’26, a biology major and psychology minor who’s serving as the teaching assistant for this summer’s Costa Rican Ecology Program. After participating in this program in 2023, Timandra was excited to travel to this lush country again with some of her favorite professors, this time as a fellow instructor. The students are studying the distribution of small mammals along the elevational gradients on the Pacific side of Costa Rica via live trapping censuses and camera trapping. As teaching assistant, Timandra helps students develop their handling skills for processing the animals. Her days begin before dawn when the group hikes up to check traps, some of which are stationed off-sight from where they are staying. “If we catch something, we process the small mammal (mice or rats) for our data and release,” Timandra says. “I’ve learned it’s quite a bit more difficult to teach than to actually do, so I’m grateful to have had such great teachers who have helped me learn.” ...