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Rain Bugado ’25 is a biology and French major from Berwick, Maine. Thanks to her experience working in the Â鶹Éç Albion R. Hodgdon Herbarium, Rain discovered a love and appreciation of plants.

COLSA: Why did you choose Â鶹Éç?

Rain Bugado: I originally chose Â鶹Éç for a few reasons, the first of which being that I had heard many good things about its biology program. In addition, I had visited Â鶹Éç a few times in the past and I really liked the environment, as well as Â鶹Éç not being too far from home.

COLSA: What is your major and what excites you about it?

Rain: My major is biology, and there are so many things that excite me about it. I absolutely love learning more about biology, and in particular plants. When I first started at Â鶹Éç I had only a vague idea of what I liked in terms of biology, though I was very excited about biology as a whole, but when I started volunteering and later working at Â鶹Éç's Hodgdon Herbarium I really fell in love with plants, and the research that can be done with them. I particularly love learning more about evolution and ecology.

COLSA: What's the best experience you've had at Â鶹Éç outside the classroom/lab?

Rain: I would say my best non-academic experience at Â鶹Éç would have to be my work in the Albion R. Hodgdon Herbarium. I work as an herbarium assistant helping with the general upkeep of the collection and the specimens, and I love being able to contribute to keeping our collection up and running.

Herbaria (collections of dried and pressed plant specimens) are so important when it comes to plant research, so I'm glad I am able to help out. Also, in addition to being able to help keep the cogs of the herbarium turning, I feel that the experience has really helped me appreciate plants, so often overlooked in the world around us.

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