I recently graduated from Boise State’s School of Public Service with a degree in Environmental Studies and a double minor in Sustainability and Visual Arts - while pursuing my degree, I interned with the Josephy Center for Arts & Culture, studied drawing & painting in Wales, UK and interned with the City of Hillsboro sustainability team. In my position before Earth Advantage, I worked as an AmeriCorps member with food rescue orgs, elementary schools and multifamily complexes to improve waste and recycling disposal infrastructure and practices. I did some public speaking, activities with the kiddos. I also talked with multifamily property managers to order correct sizing of garbage and recycling receptacles and offer educational signage & wayfinding for the communities.
I spent most of my very young life in a part of rural Oregon that is originally a homeland of the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) - Joseph, OR. It’s a very small community, but like Portland, has its own strengths and challenges. I grew up learning about the Wallowa Valley’s watersheds in school, the county’s logging history, and growing more aware of the complex civic landscape that lies between Hell’s Canyon and the Eagle Cap wilderness. Eastern Oregon found me graduating with a group of only ten other students at the public high school. The closest town over 10,000 was 70 miles and a mountain pass away, and I developed a few experiences unique to rural Oregon - like herding cows & sheep, witnessing a bear in my yard, packing through Hells Canyon on horseback and nursing ducks with pneumonia back to health (it’s a long story).
My position at Earth Advantage allows me to work across multiple programs. Currently, I’m most looking forward to supporting teams with communication and marketing strategies, as well as coordinating with community partners for future workforce development programs in 2021. It’s exciting to see the opportunities that can arise for folks who make the choice to get into the construction/energy efficiency industry - helping us all toward more resilient communities and a sustainable future.
Haha who told you?? As a junior in college, I was asked to lead the University’s efforts in supporting honey bee habitat on the Boise State campus. I was originally interested because I loved bees and was motivated by the thought of learning from a project that meant something among being buried in college textbooks. Honey bees pollinate 70% of the top 100 crop species in the world - which supplies 90% of the world’s nutrition, making them a vital actor in our food and human health system. Sadly, these little buddies are majorly susceptible to the woes of our changing climate (we’ve seen a significant decline in honey bees and their habitat in the last few decades), making it even more imminent to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
My sister works frequently in the Emergency Rooms. She just received her second moderna dose, so that is a huge relief. I’m looking forward to more folks in the world to feel that relief in the months to come, and to allow ourselves to grieve, celebrate science, and to hold each other close.
Selfishly, I’m also looking forward to being the social twenty-something I naturally am again - joining up with my running group and cooking for my friends and family - INDOORS. What a concept!
