Grand Valley Magazine Summer 2015 - (Page 20)

Rachel Schwallier (center) works on carnivorous pitcher plants as part of her doctoral program. FINDING FELLOWSHIPS: PAIRING EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS WITH OPPORTUNITY by Nate Hoekstra Rachel Schwallier grew up on an apple orchard in Coopersville, and still comes home every summer to help her parents on their sustainable fruit and vegetable farm in Conklin. The big difference between her childhood and now is where she spends the rest of the year. Whether she's hiking up the side of a mist-shrouded mountain in Malaysian Borneo, looking for exotic carnivorous pitcher plants, or studying their morphology and anatomy for her doctorate at a lab at Leiden University or the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, it's a given that Schwallier has taken a liking to working and studying overseas. "When I was growing up, I never expected that I might be traveling 20 Summer '15 around the world for my career. I had never been exposed to such a lifestyle," Schwallier said, "but now, I cannot imagine my life any other way." Schwallier started her journey toward earning a doctorate at Leiden while she was an undergraduate at Grand Valley. She first studied abroad in Australia as part of a class for her biology major. She loved the chance to see other places and experience other cultures, and the seeds were planted for a future of travel and research. After receiving her bachelor's degree in 2004, Schwallier stayed at Grand Valley to earn a master's degree in 2007, then took a job at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids where she worked in the carnivorous plant house. "When the public would come through and see these plants that thrive through eating insects, they were immediately captured by their unique habit and spectacular shapes, and they would ask a lot of really good questions," Schwallier said. "It was invigorating to share my curiosity with them." But a career outside of academia and research wasn't what Schwallier really

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Grand Valley Magazine Summer 2015

Campus News
Athletics
Donor Impact
Fall Arts Celebration
Evolving as a professional
Finding fellowships
Mastering a subject
Research
Focal Point
Q&A John Berry
Off the Path
Museum School
Alumni

Grand Valley Magazine Summer 2015