What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?
After graduating in 2019 and spending time as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Brazil, I moved to Washington, DC, to work for a member of Congress. While managing his environmental policy portfolio, I had the opportunity to design and draft original legislation on topics including offshore wind and solar energy, to work behind the scenes at committee hearings, and to gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved in driving climate progress through the US political system. I have also consulted for private-sector energy clients, explored the growing field of environmental facilitation and mediation to address renewable energy siting challenges, and completed a master's degree in environmental management at the Yale School of the Environment.
Why environmental studies?
Environmental challenges, and their solutions, can never be put into a single box. Bowdoin’s interdisciplinary environmental studies major and liberal arts curriculum gave me the freedom to take courses in topics as varied as marine biology, urban planning, government and legal systems, and French theater. I strongly believe that the breadth of my studies at Bowdoin helped me tremendously as a Hill staffer, where one is often expected to be a generalist one day and a specialist the next. Memories of coastal Maine tidepooling and a solid foundation in environmental science and policy have inspired me and, I hope, prepared me to tackle a wide array of complex environmental challenges.
Most memorable environmental studies course:
The City Since 1960, with Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies Jill Pearlman.