Matthew Schrader-Patton ’27 is a double biology/ theatre major studying in New Zealand during the Spring 2026 semester.
Kia ora (life-affirming hello) from Aotearoa New Zealand! We’ve traveled around the country on many field trips, but were based in windy Wellington for lectures at University of Victoria Wellington. I ate lots of pho, meat pies, and Tim Tams. All our legs were strengthened by the 300+ stairs we climbed once or twice per day. Wellington is home to Zealandia, a sanctuary with a predator-free fence full of tuī with two voice boxes, kererū with an endless appetite for fruit, and tuatara with morphology unchanged from the time of dinosaurs.
The other LC biology students and I traveled as one whānau (family), sharing meals, classrooms, bunks, and loads of laundry. I’ll miss my 23 roommates dearly.
Highlights from my program include kayak packing in Abel Tasman National Park, paddling a double hulled waka and learning to haka, seeing a three kiwi and snorkeling in kelp on Stewart Island, seeing bioluminescent algae and glowworms, hiking 3000 ft of elevation two days in a row in Nelson Lakes National Park for moss research purposes, learning to speak some Te Reo Māori, and setting a stoat trap line in a recovering native forest!
Learning about New Zealand’s history of colonization and loss of native wildlife has honestly been demoralizing. While Māori settlers quickly learned from their mistakes of overharvesting the giant moa, the government of New Zealand is just now catching on, and their conservative government has recently slashed funding for new and existing projects. While conservation efforts here are innovative and intensive, the prehistoric dawn chorus will never be heard again.
Studying in New Zealand has inspired me to learn more about endangered species as well as indigenous knowledge and culture in Oregon.
Ka kite anō (see you later),
Matt Schrader-Patton
Theatre is located in Fir Acres Theatre on the Undergraduate Campus.
