Life Never Looked So Good
Written by Olivia Throssell
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
Pedro Dos Santos, a graduating senior majoring in Geography and minoring in Political Science, has spent much of his academic career as an intern for an array of organizations, having started interning in his sophomore year.
He has assisted the Hawaii Civil Defence with emergency planning, which he picked up while on a field trip. He then served the Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney's Office as a legal assistant. In his junior year, he had the privilege of interning for Senator Brian Schatz’s office in Washington D.C.
Being a Geography major, Dos Santos requested to be an environmental legislative intern within Schatz’s office since he knew Schatz valued the environment. The double major believes that the University of Hawaii at Hilo Geography Department prepared him perfectly for the internship. Courses such as Geography 441: Environmental Impact Assessment, Geography 470: Remote Sensing and Geography 325: Legal geography provided Dos Santos the knowledge he needed to be successful—especially considering his primary internship task involved the Tsunami Warning and the Education and Research Act of 2015 (TWERA).
“If I had to do college all over again, I wouldn’t change the classes I have taken,” the graduating senior states. The intent behind TWERA is to strengthen the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) tsunami warning system and advance new research related to bettering tsunami detection, forecasting, notification, and response (Schatz).
For this internship, Dos Santos researched historical tsunami and looked at appropriation bills to determine costs and how much of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) fund would fund would be required. When the bill passed, Dr. James Chang, one of the people behind the bill, informed the Geography major, “If you didn’t find all of that research, the bill may not have passed.” Dos Santos feels this was one of the best compliments he received during his time in D.C.
When Dos Santos first arrived in D.C., six interns already occupied Schatz’s office, assisting in departments, such as health and Native Hawaiian issues. Many of them had been working in the office for a few years. A few weeks passed; five of the interns found jobs, leaving the office with only the graduating senior and another individual. Dos Santos was soon delegated the tasks that the former interns had worked on, and ended up doing research on issues related to homeland security, health, and many judicial system, such as appointing Loretta Lynch and supplying the police force cameras.
The Geography major mainly conducted research and attended meetings and hearings on behalf of Schatz’s office. He attended meetings and hearings from government organizations, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and judiciary counsel.
“I was essentially my advisors search engine when google wasn’t enough,” Dos Santos admits. Even though he only met the senator a few times throughout his internship, his last day brought about the opportunity to sit down with the senator and discuss his future plans.
UH Hilo graduating senior, Pedro Dos Santos, in front of the Preseidental Mansion. Photo courtesy of Pedro Dos Santos.
Before this internship, Dos Santos felt what many other university students feel: he had no idea what he wanted to do in the future.
“I feel like I was the typical college kid,” the graduating senior explains. “I had no idea what I wanted to do after college. I knew I like[d] the environment and wanted to work with it somehow but of course, my plans kept changing. I thought I wanted to work for National Geographic, then I wanted to work with emergency management; but after this internship, where I concentrated on policies, I have decided to get into Environmental Policy. My dream would be to go to law school, study environmental law and run for office eventually. I would be happy just practicing law as I know it is going to be important in the future.”
Dos Santos is presently writing a thesis entitled “‘Climate Refugees’ In the Pacific: Environmental Reinterpreting and Amending the 1951 Refugee Convention.”
“Bipartisan Tsunami Bill Unanimously Passes Senate, Strengthens Coastal Disaster
Preparedness In Hawai'i.” Brian Schatz. Brian Schatz, 7 Oct. 2015. Web. n.d.
