Featured Student: Sofia Parisotta Ferrigolo

Sofia Parisotta Ferrigolo has explored many different facets of sustainability during her time at UC and the UHP, following her curiosity about the intersections of environmental, social, and economic challenges. “My journey in the Honors Program has been about cross-pollination, connecting ideas, people, and disciplines that normally would not intersect,” she says, of the arc of honors experiences that has included seminars on leadership and intercultural social innovation, a Portman fellowship studying policy, and study tours to Australia and Scandinavia.

When she attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in her home country of Brazil, as an official representative of the University of Cincinnati, Parisotta Ferrigolo felt that she had come full circle. The experience represented the culmination of years of study and campus leadership, following her time as president of UC's Net Impact chapter; Parisotta Ferrigolo recalls that the conference “deepened what I had been learning about climate policy and sustainability by showing how those ideas play out in real negotiations and global frameworks,” and opened professional opportunities for “meaningful conversations with leaders working in sustainability strategy.”

Parisotta Ferrigolo will be continuing to work toward sustainability solutions after graduation, as she moves into a role as a Business Analyst for McKinsey & Company, one of the firms she connected with at COP30. She leaves behind a thriving chapter of Net Impact, where she helped build a culture of mentorship, and will take a lasting appreciation for the ways the UHP pushed her to “see my experiences not as separate pieces, but as part of a bigger picture.”