Hi! My name is Darynne Jester, and I am a junior Environmental Geoscience student at Texas A&M, minoring in Geography and Sustainable Architecture! I was born and raised in Texas, and I grew up in Austin. I have two beautiful dogs at home, a brother who currently attends Texas State University, and two wonderful, supportive parents. I went to Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School in Austin, Texas, a very well-respected and competitive high school, and have continued my education at Texas A&M University. I have always been passionate about the environment and earth sciences, since as young as I can remember. This past summer, I worked in Yellowstone National Park and was able to visit 11 national parks on my road trip to and from Wyoming. I absolutely love hiking, mountains, visiting National Parks, learning about new cultures and languages, and collecting rocks and vintage maps. During the school year, I work at my on-campus Starbucks, I am an undergraduate physics researcher, I co-founded an organization for people in environmental programs at Texas A&M, and I am the director and treasurer of a freshmen leadership organization. This year, from December 12-28, 2024, I have the chance to study abroad through my university to Antarctica to study sustainability and the changing Antarctic climate. The study abroad program is offered through a sustainable business class that I am planning to take this coming fall semester, and over winter break, my classmates and I will spend two weeks conducting research in Antarctica. Once, I graduate, I plan to go to graduate school for either Urban and Regional Planning or Climate Science!

For full transparency, this is a very expensive study abroad trip. The program I have applied to has estimated costs of around $15,000. The round-trip international flight to Ushuaia, Argentina from Houston, Texas makes up around half of the costs. The other half of the cost includes lodging, food, and the boat ride from Ushuaia to Argentina across Drake's passage. The $15,000 includes everything I could need in these couple of weeks, besides souvenirs. I realize that this is a big ask from my friends and family. I work as hard as I can to succeed in my education because of how important it is to me. Aside from working during the school year, I have applied to numerous study abroad scholarships to help lighten the load of the cost of this trip on myself and my family, but I still need as much help as I can get.

Visiting Antarctica is any environmental science student's dream. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me to progress my career in the geosciences and hopefully be able to make a change in the world for the better. I would love as much help to spread my GoFundMe as I can get to be able to take this trip. Thank you for reading my story!