Maia Gorgan ‘26
Contributor
GESC: A Student Review On The Program Benefits or Lackings

The Global Environmental Studies Certificate is a flashy name — but what is it?
The GESC, for short, is a certificate given to students at Loomis Chaffee after completing extensive programming and prerequisite classes. The certificate also fulfills the mission of the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies by creating students who are globally oriented and ecologically aware. For example, the GESC prompts students to take their language up to its 4th level throughout their years at Loomis, giving students more fluency if they were to travel abroad.
“[The required prerequisite classes] definitely help [you make] a balanced curriculum throughout your four years,” Mercuri Lam ’24, a student currently in the GESC program, said.
Within the program, there are six seminars, with a pre and post-essay for all of them. The certificate also requires a student to complete a capstone project, accumulating all of their work in the program and throughout the seminars into one final project to “affect a whole community.”
“I like how much support they give you to pursue your passions and your interests in a global context,” Lam said.
More inducements of the program include “being able to work with the Alvord Center and many faculty members for the capstone projects,” Zaylie Gore ’24 said. “You get to work with them and figure out what you want to do.”
Many of the program’s incentives also greatly benefit students if they genuinely invest in pursuing global and environmental studies.
“The GESC allows us to experience a lot of things in those fields that we wouldn’t get to see outside of the general Loomis curriculum,” Gore said. “For example, we got to check out the Islamic Association of New Britain.”
Moreover, the GESC has a long-lasting benefit for students entering higher education and the workforce.
“[The program] will make [the students] more globally minded and environmentally conscious,” GESC Coordinator Richard Karrat said.
If students choose to pursue majors such as environmental studies, international relations, or any language, they can reflect on their experiences in the GESC as a point of reference from where they began.
However, this program is a lot of work for a student.
“[The program is] almost like taking an extra class,” Mr. Karrat said. As such, students should only take the course if they are passionate about it.
Though the GESC is a beneficial program, students should complete this certificate to pursue studies that align with its theme rather than with a motivation for college credits.