Undergrads Swaggin at SWAAG!

Hannah Gautsche, UNT Geography Graduate, Fall 2011

First and foremost, I’d like to thank Lisa (Dr. Nagaoka) for inviting myself and others to the Southwest Association of American Geographers (SWAAG) conference in Austin.  Before we left she asked me if I wanted to submit a blog entry about perceptions of SWAAG for the undergraduates who went, what we thought we would get out of it, and then what we actually got out of it.  The experience was incredible.  Geography consists of such an amazing and special group of people, and my last semester at UNT could have not ended in a better way.  Upon our arrival back to Denton, I emailed Allyssa Sobey, Matthew Hendrix, Jeremy Dunn, Sarah McCrorey, and Meagan Hatton asking them what they thought about SWAAG.  Here is the consensus: 

Why we wanted to go:  We wanted to go the conference to get a general idea of what Geographers are researching and to explore our own interests further.  We also wanted to network with other students and professors to expand our knowledge about Geography.  

What we got out of it:  We definitely didn’t expect the conference to be as small as it was, but we are thankful that it was because it allowed us to fully engage in the presentations.  We enjoyed being able to choose the presentations that interested us, which allowed us to better understand how research in Geography develops and is applied.   After attending the conference, we realized how much we love our major and how we love to be part of such a field that relies on multi-disciplinary approaches.  In addition, we felt closer to the UNT faculty; it was heartwarming to be able to converse with our professors on a level that wasn’t necessarily student-teacher related. 

Favorite memories:  Our favorite memories include attending UNT faculty and student presentations of their research and relaxing with everyone over a few beers after a long day of Geography presentations.

In sum, we recommend that other Geography students at UNT go to SWAAG.

Addendum from Dr. Nagaoka - UNT had the largest contingent at SWAAG this year with at least 30 faculty and students, 10 of whom were undergrads.  In addition, two of our undergrads, Chloe Thomas and Cody Brule, won 2nd place in the poster competition (comprised mostly of grad students) for the bike occupancy project research that began in GEOG 2110.   Next year's SWAAG conference is in Las Cruces, NM in October (road trip!).   Hope you can join us!