Gerardo Montes de Oca knew from childhood that he wanted to study animals and the environment. Born and raised in Toluca, Mexico, he dreamed of being a veterinarian, but realized in his early adolescence that he wanted to have a greater impact on policy and the environment. Since Gerardo’s early teens, his father, an agricultural engineer by training, had worked for PROBOSQUE, a federal government department devoted to the protection and sustainable management of Mexico’s forests.Many of his father’s superiors spoke admiringly to Gerardo about the “extraordinary” school called Zamorano, but they only mentioned agricultural studies. After much encouragement, however, Gerardo decided to look at Zamorano’s website. “I looked at the list of departments, and viewed each of their sections. The fourth and last one was Socioeconomic Development and the Environment (DSEA). The minute after I clicked on the DSEA link, I decided to come to Zamorano.”
Gerardo quickly grew to love Zamorano and as anticipated, he entered the DSEA major and spent as much time as possible studying animals and ecology. His two favorite professors were Erika Tenorio, who taught watershed and water resource management, and Dr. Jose Mora, who taught courses on biodiversity and on environmental resource management. “When Dr. Mora explains something, he discusses many aspects because he sees connections and goes on many tangents explaining how each creature or plant is interconnected to several others. And Erika Tenorio is quite similar because you can tell she sees the big picture, and knows that effectively preserving a water source for people to drink will benefit the ecology, the air, and the trees as well. I like teachers that see the big picture and help us do the same.”
With Dr. Mora as thesis advisor, Gerardo teamed with fellow senior Baleshka Renée Brenes Mayorga, of Nicaragua, to investigate the ecology of an animal previously unstudied in Honduras: the Mephitis macroura, or hooded skunk. Gerardo and Baleshka obtained special permission to spend many long nights on the Zamorano campus trapping the animals, fitting them with radio collars and then tracking their movements multiple times a week for several weeks. “Even though it’s a small animal, we learned it can travel long distances. One of our subjects had a 30 hectar home range.” They also confirmed that there were differences among their study population and skunks documented in past research. “Although the studies from the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico say these skunks should have kits in April and May, we found a mother with babies in September. It was exciting to discover something new and also to realize that there is so much left to learn. We shouldn’t assume that because something is true for an animal in one place, it remains so in another.”
A highlight of Gerardo’s academic experience at Zamorano was his pasantía (work-study trimester), which all Zamorano seniors undertake at the start of their senior year. Gerardo traveled to Brazil and interned with TAMAR (Tartarugas Marinhas), a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles and other marine life. He worked on the main island in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago — a UNESCO world heritage site and national park — supporting research and tourism activities. His work included capturing turtles to tag them, monitoring nesting beaches and marking egg clutches, and answering questions in the visitor’s center and museum. “I learned so much. I earned my diving certification while I was there– it was required of interns so we could safely capture the male turtles in the ocean. Of course I learned all about the ecology and the lives of the sea turtles. I practiced Portuguese and used my English a lot with the tourists. And I also came because I was interested in how an island community functions. Brazil is very strict in protecting the islands — Brazilians aren’t allowed to just move there, and the number of tourists visiting is strictly limited. But the local people respect this because Brazil does a good job explaining the area’s importance for fisheries and tourism.”
Regarding the complex problems that matter the most to him, Gerardo believes his time at Zamorano has given him a more complex perspective. “The biggest way I’ve changed since I came here is that before I didn’t understand why we had to help the people in the forests and natural places. I thought they should just leave things alone. By studying in DSEA I realized the people have to live, too. And if you help the people and you teach them, they will become protectors of the environment, too.”
Gerardo was able to attend Zamorano thanks to generous support from the school’s scholarship fund, which covered approximately 60% of his tuition for his four years of study. The rest of Gerardo’s funding came from loans guaranteed by Zamorano. “My education here leaves me in debt, but it gave me the tools to get a good job that will help me pay it off. I think that’s a fair trade.”
Gerardo, who graduated in the top twenty percent of his class, plans to attend graduate school in Mexico and then hopes to pursue a career in the Mexican government’s National Commission to Protect Natural Places (CONANP). “CONANP works directly with the plants and animals, and also with local communities to create new economic opportunities and incentives to help them want to protect these places, too. I love Mexico and I don’t want us to lose our natural places.”
While Gerardo knows his plans may change, he also believes he is now able to pursue the career he has wanted since childhood. “Professionally speaking, Zamorano gives you a lot of tools, especially for helping you figure out how to get things done. When you look for your pasantía or you develop your thesis you get practical experience learning how to follow a bureaucratic process, how to strategize, how to prepare. You need to work with many people, but if you really want to do something you can usually figure out how.”
