Team Thank You
As a group, we believe a connection to nature is vital to our holistic health, including our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. The connections we develop with nature in our childhood and adolescence define the values we carry with us into adulthood. Environmental health is human health and in order for people to cherish the environment, they must first experience it. Our hope is to encourage environmental stewardship in younger generations by providing them with tools to connect to themselves, others, and nature.
Kimberly Lizotte
Kimberly Lizotte is a senior at the University of Vermont majoring in natural resources with a concentration in resource planning. She grew up in a small town in Massachusetts with sweeping hillsides and lots of room to run. Nature has always been her happy place. She believes there is an immensity to the world around us; that is mystifying, glorious, and powerful. She has found that nature has much to teach us when we take the time to listen. Her love for the outdoors is what brought her to Vermont; and her capstone class NR206 brought her to Team Thank You, and our community partners Kristen Andrews, and David Brynn. Prior to her participation on Team Thank You, she did not partake in daily gratitude practices. This project has changed her life, allowing her the opportunity to grow and expand her perspective of herself, and the world around her.
Juli Tyson
Juli studies Environmental Studies concentrating on sustainability studies. Her passion for the environment was fostered from a young age when she spent her summers on the coast of Maine watching the Great Blue Heron fish next to her family's dock. 2017 will be her fourth summer spent working as the head of the Farm and Garden at Windsor Mountain Summer Camp in Windsor, NH. Through her studies and work with children, she has learned the power a connection to nature can have on community and environmental awareness. Her work with Team Thank You has allowed for a culmination of gratitude, creativity, friendship, environmental education, and compassionate conservation work, and she hopes to carry the attitudes and memories she formed throughout this semester with her for the rest of her work for the environment.
Milo Civita
Milo is an Environmental Studies major in the Rubenstein School, concentrating in Ecology and Conservation. Originally from Garrison, NY, he spent the majority of his upbringing outdoors, hiking, fishing, and learning about the interconnected web of life and its stewardship. Previously, he worked as an intern at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY, where he learned the importance of connecting the public to your mission, and inspiring them to join in the fight for conservation. This project's focus on gratitude and compassion has given him the insight to see through the difficulties of everyday life and remember that we are here to take care of one another and the Earth. Milo is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with Team Thank You, and firmly believes that this project could not have happened without the energy and spirit of this group of people.
Miguel Reda
Meet Miguel Reda a Parks, Recreation & Tourism major at UVM from Amherst MA. Growing up camping in the Adirondacks with his family during the summers he grew a fond appreciation for being outside. He also grew up doing conservation work through out the Connecticut river watershed learning more about various habitats and the threats they face as well as management practices to help these natural areas allowing others to enjoy them. His studies at UVM as a Parks, Recreation & Tourism Major have focused primarily on Diversity & Inclusion in the outdoors. When he's not attending conferences he spends his time in lines at the ski lifts, rock climbing in the sun with friends or dancing to Latin music.
Isabel Nass
Isabel is graduating from the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources with a degree in Natural Resource Ecology and a minor in Wildlife Biology in May 2017. Nature study and unstructured play were both center points in her childhood, and she credits her passion for all forms of life (except maybe house centipedes) to her upbringing. Often outside skinning knees and building houses for fairies, Isabel learned at a young age to experience the world with appreciation, care, and imagination. In her undergraduate years she developed a passion for connecting young people with nature through unstructured exploration, in hopes of inspiring the same type of intrinsic conservationist attitude that these experiences instilled in her as a child. Working with David and Kristen and the rest of Team Thank You has been a wonderful opportunity for Isabel to develop the creative thinking and personal reflection practices necessary to create learning conditions that will foster connection to one's self, others, and nature. Isabel plans to join the Burlington team of Master Naturalists in August.