Student Profiles

Get to know the Fall 2024 Outstanding Students as they share their top memories of inspirational faculty, life-changing research opportunities, meaningful extracurriculars and favorite courses.

From rustic hostels to backpacking hotspots, Leon Schmidt plugs into whatever WiFi he can find to make sure he gets his homework in on time.

Explore the world with Leon, a nutritional sciences major and current adventurer in Australia!

At 24 years old, Amanda Bogden oversaw the production of 250 acres of broccoli, sunflower and zinnia crops in central California.

And one thing became abundantly clear: there is a leadership inequity looming in the agriculture industry.

We asked each of our 2024 Outstanding Senior awardees to reflect on their time in CALES and share their most memorable highlights.

It’s not every day that a student gets to draw blood from a lion or face down a young bull elephant.

For Isabel Tejada, however, those were just some of the highlights of her most recent study abroad experience.

For Ariana (Ari) Bootier, the challenges just kept coming – from homelessness to injury, to discouragement. 

But nothing would stop her from pursuing her lifelong dream of veterinary medicine. 

If you had asked Stephanie Weiler what she thought of economics in high school, she would have said it was boring and something she would never do.

So, how did Stephanie end up with a master’s degree in applied econometrics and data analytics?