07 Jul A Week with WYSE

This week I got to step out of the office in Atlanta and head to Fairfax, Virginia. I was a Junior Faculty Advisor for the Washington Youth Summit on the Environment at George Mason University. This summit is at its 7th year and it holds about 300 high school students every year. I was nominated and received a scholarship to come to WYSE in 2014; 3 years later, I came back as a JFA and took a leadership role in guiding 22 high school students into the WYSE journey. In the summit we did a lot of activities that reflected on the importance to protecting the environment in every way. We went to the National Zoo, National Aquarium, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, attended sessions about leading expert scientists and researchers in various environmental fields, and so many more activities. I enjoyed my time away from Atlanta’s humid weather to attend this summit. Although this week had nothing to do with LHIP I did get to meet and lead the generation of conservation leaders. One thing I did take back from that week was that there is still a lack of representation from people of color in the environmental field. Hopefully that changes in the next few years! Until next time!