As a child, Monica was fascinated by nature and understood the fact that forests play a crucial role in the earth’s survival and existence; as a result, it became Monica’s dream to engage in forestry conservation in Uganda. Her undergraduate research project was on the population dynamics of the invasive paper mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera, in Uganda’s largest forest reserve, Budongo Forest. Together with her colleagues, she organized charity collections for communities living around the Budongo Forest. Monica also conducted conservation education in the communities around Budongo Forest encouraging the masses not to kill the wild animals, including chimpanzees when they raid farmers’ crops. She will apply her knowledge and understanding of the tropical forests, as well as their conservation and sustainable utilization, without forgetting forest-dependent communities. Monica is interested in learning more about sustainable forest management, and hopes that her graduate degree in MSFM at UBC helps her to realize this goal.