ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Mackenzie is a Natural Resource Planning student with a focus in Community Development. Mackenzie focuses her studies on food access, progressive politics, affordable housing, and community building! In her free time, Mackenzie enjoys baking, swimming, and spending time with her friends and family. She loves to call Burlington her home!

Sam is a senior Forestry student, with a concentration in Emergency Medical Services. During his non-academic months, Sam guides backcountry wilderness trips for a YMCA camp in northern Minnesota. Leading trips in ranges of lengths from 5 to 50 days, in a variety of locations from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. In the future, Sam hopes to pursue job opportunities and a career in the wilderness, medicine, and ecologically minded forest management.

Lucas is a senior forestry major in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Originally from Westerly Rhode Island, he now resides in Burlington, Vermont. Lucas enjoys writing and painting in his free time. He has worked with both the University of Vermont and Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation doing forest inventory and management. After graduation, he is hoping to pursue a career in land stewardship.

Anna is a Natural Resource Planning major with a focus on community resilience and environmental policy. Originally from South Hero, VT, she is an avid skier, biker, and artist. Outside of class, Anna is a researcher with the Art and Artificial Intelligence Initiative. She will begin her Master of Social Science at University of Colorado Denver this Fall, focusing on the relationship between environmental ignorance and disaster preparedness.

Leah is a multimedia storyteller and senior environmental studies major with an interest in audio reporting and sound design. She currently works as a freelance audio artist and producer on several Vermont podcasts and a Winooski racial justice documentary project. When she is not working on a story, you can find her somewhere in Vermont woods mushrooming or cross country skiing. After graduation, Leah plans to travel the United States and capture the sounds and songs of endangered bird species.

Frances is a senior Natural Resource: Ecology major in Rubenstein School for the Environment and Natural Resources with a minor in Religion. She is from Atlanta, Georgia. In the classroom Frances has developed an interest in ecosystem restoration, plants, and phenology. Outside of the classroom Frances loves to spend time with her puppy as well as bake bread. Her favorite place to spend time in Burlington is out on the lake. After graduation Frances hopes to expand on her love of plants and explore a career in botany.

Amanda is an Environmental Studies major with a minor in Community and International Development. She is originally from Massachusetts, but considers Burlington, Vermont her home since starting UVM in 2017. She is passionate about working to create sustainable communities that allow both people and the environment to prosper. She is particularly interested in working on resiliency projects for communities most affected by climate change. She is an avid lover of being outside. In the summer months, she can almost always be found at one of Vermont’s many swimming holes.

Derek is a senior Natural Resources: Ecology major in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and a Geography minor at UVM. Originally from Salem, Massachusetts, he is now located in Burlington, VT where he enjoys various outdoor activities such as running, hiking, and hanging out by Lake Champlain. Derek has been part of the Camp Kesem community at UVM since 2018 where he volunteers as a general body member and counselor. In the future, he hopes to pursue a career that contributes to protecting water as a natural resource and improving water security for regions in need.

Michael is finishing his degree in environmental science with a concentration in ecological design at the University of Vermont. Some of his interests are resource recovery and circular economy systems, as well as outdoor education. Michael is originally from the Chicago suburbs and now enjoys many of the outdoor recreation opportunities that are available living so close to the Green Mountains of Vermont. After graduation this May, he will spend the summer working as a naturalist in the AMC huts of New Hampshire before pursuing more outdoor education work and hopefully traveling internationally.

Haley is a senior majoring in Environmental Studies at University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School for the Environment and Natural Resources, with minors in Chinese and Geography. Her interests include migration and sense of place, and she continues to pursue this in the future through the Accelerated Master’s Program of Natural Resources at UVM. She is also involved as a member of the foundation Next Generation Justice, and looks forward to becoming a part of the policy making process within the state of Vermont. Outside the classroom, she enjoys climbing, dogs and cooking.

Luke is a senior environmental studies major -- with a concentration in policy and journalism -- and a minor in writing. He hails from Chicago and works with Headwaters magazine on campus. Outside of class, he likes to ski (both nordic and alpine), run, swim and play hockey. After graduation, he hopes to pursue a career in environmental journalism or law.

Quincy is just a puppy. He focuses his studies on the behavior of squirrels and the soil science of his backyard hole. When he isn’t giving kisses or sneaking treats from the team, he can be found chasing mountain bikes, running in his sleep, and bird watching out the window. You might wonder how a dog wrote a shoreline management guide. The truth is, he didn’t. He just made his team really happy along the way.