In Their Words: Alec Apodaca

Alec Apodaca, a student in the division's anthropology department, is the 2016 recipient of the Keeley Coastal Scholars Award.
 
What year are you? 3rd year transfer
 
College: Merrill
 
Where do you call home? A community in southern San Diego called Otay.
 
With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out? Besides the amazing landscapes that encompass UCSC, I was drawn to this school by the educational atmosphere. Also, who can beat walking alongside deer and racoons through the redwoods to take a shortcut to class?
 
What is your field of focus? Anthropology
 
What do you hope to do once you graduate from UC Santa Cruz? I plan to pursue a graduate degree in anthropological archaeology and continue researching human-environmental interactions, cultural landscapes, traditional resource management, and sociopolitical negotiations during California’s “Late Period” (AD 1500-1800)
 
What does this scholarship mean to you? The Keeley Award lifts the heavy weight of living expenses during the summer, and allows me to continue to focus on my studies.. In the same instance, the scholarship is essentially making it possible to conduct the research that I wanted to do, such as radiometric dating on shellfish remains from a coastal archaeological site. In all, it is an amazing gift that I beyond ecstatic to receive it.