“I don’t see my role as preparing activists,” says Paul Gorski, who is teaching the class as a section of NCLC 395 Special Topics in Experiential Learning. “I just see [animal rights] as a conversation in society that people are really interested in.”

German Perilla began working with the Maijuna through Mason professor Michael Gilmore, an ethnobiologist who’s been working with the Maijuna for many years and helping them maintain their cultural, biological and ecological traditions. Twice a year, Perilla travels to the Amazon to do workshops and classes with the Maijuna.

In less than one month, about 2,600 freshmen and 2,300 transfer students will call George Mason University their new home. Hundreds will join the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.