# @trinityu on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnfDyCSX
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/31733630-trinityu-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e32c349c84.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-06-22T19:00:44.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Trinity University (@trinityu) — https://gondola.cc/trinityu

## Caption

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.” 

After processing their captures, the students return to the field station for breakfast and a planned activity, which has ranged from a sustainable coffee farm visit to a natural history hike with guides in the Cloud Forest Reserve. 

For the rest of the day, Timandra and her fellow students write field journals and process camera trap data before going back out to reset traps.

“My favorite part of this trip is the camera trapping. There’s a certain satisfaction in setting a well-placed camera trap and coming back a few days later to see some really cool stuff on it,” Timandra says. “Recently, a camera I set caught a really good image of a puma on video, and it was so satisfying to see my work pay off right in front of me.” 

#TrinityUniversity #HumansofTrinity
#TrinityStudyAbroad tustudyabroad

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## Tags

humansoftrinity, trinityuniversity, trinitystudyabroad

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