is our annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a devoted time to recognize Black achievements in U.S. history. Known as African American History Month, the period grew out of “Negro History Week,” born of the idea of historian Carter G. Woodson and other notable African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has designated the month of February as Black History Month. Canada and the United Kingdom also devote a month to celebrating Black history.
The “celebration” is often framed as a time to honor the achievements of individual Black Americans, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells; now Barack and Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris are among the many iconic figures. Given our experience of 2020 and now 2021 and the magnitude of the challenges before us, recognizing individual achievements seems too narrow. Recognizing Black History Month in context calls us to, indeed, recognize individuals and to turn our view toward our nation, community and our campus. I do believe James Baldwin is right: “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.” We have reason to celebrate, yet we need not conceal the challenges in our midst.
My experience as an African American man is not singular. I am proud of my country and at times aghast at what I see. I am a proud Husky, and yet I have moments when I do not quite feel I fit. I feel at home in my community and at my University and at times frustrated by the divisions in my community. My campus feels familiar and safe, then there are far too many moments I feel uncertain. I often feel the particular sensation that W.E.B. Du Bois described in “The Souls of Black Folk” (1903), the concept of double consciousness — defined as the struggle African Americans face to remain true to Black culture while at the same time conforming to the dominant white society. Du Bois writes, “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness … One feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two un-reconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” Double consciousness is no longer limited to the lives of African Americans, many of us have lived and grown weary of living a divided life which is why we persist in our search for purpose and meaning in our lives and work.
I love the UW. I love the work I do. I try to merge into the values of our community and our campus with care. I hope that I lead and learn with integrity. I will celebrate Black History Month and in so doing, feel restrained. I am daily grateful that I can celebrate this month with all of you. I invite you to read Lucille Clifton’s poem, “won’t you celebrate with me.” She begins with a call to action, and she gives the reasons, against all odds, to celebrate.
Editor’s note: This reflection was originally part of an email to UAA staff published on February 5, 2021.Ěý
“It can be a very intimidating process, especially because college there’s so many people here and just you know putting yourself out there in front of a bunch of people you don’t know, that can be very nerve-wracking. Try things that you’ve never done before. You might find that you’re really, really passionate about something that you’ve just never tried before. Yeah, just just don’t be afraid to do.”
I think students should get involved in the community because you never know what connections you’re going to make out of it, and you never know what kind of what doors it’s going to open up and where it’s going to bring you
This fall, the Pipeline Project completed their thoughtful work updating their program name. They are pleased to announce their new name: . This name seeks to more accurately reflect the program’s mission and honor their community collaborations. In addition, the program received an . The Endowment will allow Riverways to continue building their year-long program with Neah Bay and other rural and tribal communities, support the assessment of their work and create new year-long programs for other schools across the state.
Alyson McGregor
Riverways Education Partnerships places equity and reciprocal relationships at the center of their work. Since 1997, UW undergraduates have been mentoring, tutoring and supporting K-12 students across the state. Riverways has built long term relationships with rural and tribal communities, as well as Seattle schools. Through this work, UW undergrads engage with students from diverse backgrounds, gain leadership skills, critically reflect on issues of equity in education and learn to build relationships with communities. The K-12 students they partner with work on literacy, environmental and STEM-related projects. Working with undergraduates also gives these students a glimpse into the college experience.Ěý
“The work has always been about education equity,” says longtime director Christine Stickler. “Bringing undergraduate students into schools has a real impact on how they understand the enormous and deep impact that schools have in our community. For students to have an opportunity to understand how the education system works is an impactful way for them to understand the challenges, constraints and possibilities of the system.”
McGregor’s longtime support has been critical to Riverways’ work. McGregor first got involved with the Pipeline Project in 2003, when she funded a quarter-long poetry outreach project working with the Quileute Tribe in LaPush. In 2010, she went on to fund a year-long program called “Telling Our Stories, Imagining Our Futures.” This program takes place in Neah Bay, the home of the Makah Tribe. Through this program, UW undergraduates mentor Makah students in Neah Bay. Seeing college students from a similar background encourages the elementary students to envision their future, helping them learn about pathways to higher education and explore careers where they can live and lead in their home community. To date, 270 fifth-graders from Neah Bay have been mentored by 66 UW students.Ěý
Second grade Jimmicum with then ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ student Piya Banerjee. Several UW students spent the week teaching and volunteering in Jimmicum’s home community of Neah Bay.
Auston Jimmicum, a member of the Makah tribe, UW alum and past Riverways mentor, remembers UW students visiting his fifth grade classroom. “It was the first time I had ever talked to college students,” reflected Jimmicum.Ěý He goes on to explain “That’s what this program is doing: opening the students’ eyes, putting it in their heads that they have their whole lives to look forward to, and exposing them to this other world.” While tutoring students in Neah Bay as part of Alternative Spring Break in 2018, two of the kids in his group said they wanted to study at UW.ĚýÂ
The former name, Pipeline Project, originally reflected the intent to build connections and relationships all across Kindergarten, elementary, middle, high school and higher education institutions. However, the word “pipeline” became increasingly associated with negative phenomena such as the destructive oil and gas lines running through Native American lands and the school-to-prison pipeline. The name change process was initiated to respond to these concerns from students and community partners.Ěý
Stickler started the process of the name change in 2019 in collaboration and consultation with the program’s students, alumni and tribal partners. One partner was Tami Hohn, the Lushootseed language instructor at the UW who suggested the concept of water and rivers as something that has connected communities around the world all throughout history. The word “Riverways” was selected to reflect the program’s core mission of connecting people, schools and communities. The words “education partnerships” were also chosen to center the collaborative nature of the program’s relationships with community partners and the Seattle Public Schools.
The team collaborated with their Native American Partners and came up with a new focus statement: “connecting with students, schools and communities toward tribal sovereignty and racial justice.” This bold statement takes ownership of their commitment to the anti-racist work that is the guiding core of the program’s work. It also honors their Native American partners’ unique struggle over land sovereignty.
“Collaboration is at the heart of our work,” explains Stickler. “I’m grateful to our Native American students for starting this conversation and am proud to have a new program name that reflects our commitment to partnership and equity. I’m also grateful to Alyson for her generosity and continued enthusiasm for our work. We look forward to working together to continue Riverways’ work of providing transformative and growthful educational experiences for both UW and K-12 students, while addressing historical inequities in public education in Washington state.”
Each and every Husky goes through their own journey, undergoes their own unique experiences and, most importantly, has their very own story to share. Husky Stories is a mini-series in which ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ share their successes, failures, experiences — their stories. There is no one way to be a Husky. Indeed, the culmination of individuals’ stories shape the picture of what it means to be a Husky.
Welcome to the very first episode of Husky Stories! Ryan Lowery is majoring in math and atmospheric sciences here at the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ. Other than school, Ryan is also involved with the , a program within Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Here, he shares his stories of dealing with failure and resiliency. (Note: This interview took place prior to the coronavirus pandemic.)
The Resilience Lab is a campus partner in the Husky Health & Well-Being initiative. If you would like to talk with a counselor or simply learn more about the mental health resources available to students, visit the .
This week, the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ’s Resilience Lab released the , a new resource for instructors to aid them in designing learning environments that promote well-being. Combining research, best practices and personal testimony, the guidebook gives faculty and other instructors concrete ideas and direct input from the campus community around supporting the whole student and promoting resilience and compassion on campus.
Students’ well-being has been a growing concern for several years and has been exacerbated by 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic, economic fallout and the national reckoning over race and policing. A recent found that campus mental health was the top concern of university presidents.Ěý
“As we prepare the next generation of citizens and servant leaders, future educators, researchers, entrepreneurs and more, it really is critical that we incorporate practices that support our students’ whole lives and lived experiences,” says Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean on Undergraduate Academic Affairs. “As a public research university, much of our work is focused on understanding the factors that contribute to resilient communities. This guidebook helps us with that work right here at our UW home, knowing that it expands beyond campus as we all interact with our broader community through research, service and teaching.”
The guidebook’s Foundations for Advancing Student Well-Being are the framework for the guide and include the themes of teaching for equity and access, building resilience coping skills, nurturing connection and connecting to the environment. This framework promotes core skills and mindsets of social and emotional learning and draws on best practices modeled at other institutions. This resource was researched, developed, co-written and edited by the Resilience Lab team and more than 40 Well-Being for Life and Learning Fellows who are faculty members, instructors, staff and students across disciplines and from all three UW campuses. Their contributions give the guidebook a UW-focused, holistic perspective on the impact of teaching the whole student. In that way, the guidebook is both a call to action and an invitation to the work of helping students develop the tools and habits for well-being so they are mentally and emotionally equipped to learn and thrive.Ěý
“All of us at the Resilience Lab are so honored to have worked on this guidebook with such a committed group of instructors, staff and students,” says Resilience Lab Director Megan Kennedy. “We know that advancing student well-being really takes all of us, so our goal was to create a tool for our campus colleagues to add to their pedagogical toolbox. We wanted to give instructors a foundation of both why this work matters and how they can incorporate it into their teaching no matter where they are in terms of personal and professional experience.”Â
Support resilience, compassion and well-being
The Resilience Lab promotes well-being at the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ through education, research partnerships, and core programs and initiatives.
The Well-Being for Life and Learning guidebook sits at the prevention and promotion end of a mental health continuum of care within the UW and is aimed at preventing larger issues or crises by bolstering students’ resilience coping skills and helping them respond to stress and stay connected to others. It’s a part of the Resilience Lab’s Well-Being for Life and Learning initiative, one of the Lab’s efforts toward building and sustaining a culture of well-being at the UW.
About the Resilience Lab
The Resilience Lab was founded in 2015 and is a program within Undergraduate Academic Affairs that promotes well-being at the UW through education, research partnerships and core programs and initiatives.
For more information about the Resilience Lab or its Well-Being for Life and Learning initiative and guidebook, contact Megan Kennedy at meganken@uw.edu.
Congratulations to Ryan Burt, who was appointed the new director of Academic Support Programs in September, 2020.Ěý
runs the Center for Learning and Undergraduate Enrichment (CLUE) — a free, late night, peer-to-peer, drop-in tutoring program and academic support coaches, a peer-to-peer coaching program. Academic Support Programs sits within along with First Year Programs and Undergraduate Academic Affairs Advising. Burt explains that being situated here “creates really powerful opportunities to collaborate with First Year Programs and UAA Advising. This is a great space for us to think creatively and collaboratively about supporting the transitional experiences of first-year and pre-major students, especially in this virtual world.”Â
Ryan Burt, photographed at CLUE — a free, late night, peer-to-peer, drop-in tutoring program — in 2018. Academic Support Programs runs CLUE, along with the academic success coaching program.
Inclusiveness is central to Academic Support Programs’ work. When examining the effectiveness of their programs, Burt and team ask who is coming, and more importantly, who isn’t coming and why? Even before the pandemic hit, Burt and his team were planning to offer their services online to make it easier for students to access these resources. The University’s move to online learning in spring 2020 sped up the timeline for this change.Ěý
“We’re working to make the online experience a rich one. Even though it’s a challenging year, there is still a lot of possibility of collaborating differently in the virtual setting.” Burt explains “I want students to know we care about each of them. We know that being a student at a large public university can be overwhelming, daunting. That’s where we come in: we’re their academic home away from home.”Â
Associate Dean Michaelann Jundt shares, “I am thrilled to have Ryan leading Academic Support Programs. His curiosity fuels his dedication to deep learning and informs his leadership. I am impressed by how well he handles unexpected change and the ways he has embraced collaborative projects. His commitment to students will continue to move us forward in supporting UW student success.”Â
Academic Support Programs’ offerings rely on students teaching other students. The peer-to-peer model is impactful. Students learn from other ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ who are going through similar experiences and challenges. It allows them to relate and to learn from someone who is balancing the demands of student life, just like they are. To that end, Academic Support Programs increased the number of student coaches they hired in spring 2020 to both provide jobs for students who may have otherwise lost them and to be able to better serve UW undergrads.Ěý
To all faculty, staff and students thinking creatively about how to best support students, . Academic Support Programs is eager to connect, share ideas and work together.
Burt and team are eager to collaborate across campus. Because they work with both faculty and students, they have a unique vantage point to see both the faculty’s learning goals and how students are understanding the class material. They are available to meet with faculty and staff to share their observations and help support their classes.Ěý
Burt’s involvement with Academic Support Programs began in 2013, when he was a program manager. His work included overseeing the CLUE writing center and teaching academic support classes for multilingual students. The majority of students Burt was working with were international students, so Burt co-founded the International Student Success Committee. The Committee’s work brought together colleagues serving international students together to focus on enriching the international student college experience.Ěý
Burt continued to grow his career in Academic Support Services, serving as senior program manager, assistant director and most recently served as interim director. He continues to focus on how to best support the University’s diverse undergraduate student population.Ěý
Beyond his work in Academic Support Programs, Burt has been involved in several committees including Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ general studies curriculum committee and the diversity and inclusion team. He co-chaired the Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ staff teaching committee with Carissa Mayer, which brought together staff from across campus to think critically about undergraduate education.Ěý He is also co-chairing the University’s Task Force on Writing, where he’s helping to reimagine the W (writing) requirement. Burt brings a unique perspective to this work, having been an undergrad and grad student at the UW, in addition to having taught classes as both a grad student and now a staff member. This work seeks to broaden the writing requirement to include diverse fields and writing intensive, upper-level language classes.
Voting is a habit that holds our democracy together.
The ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ has one of the highest voter participation rates of any college or university in the nation. This legacy of civic participation — that #ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵVote — is something we can all be proud of. And it’s something we can continue.
If you are eligible to vote make sure that your voter registration status is up-to-date so you are ready to vote in the upcoming November 2020 election.
Important dates
October 26, 2020
Deadline for online voter registration in Washington state.
NOTE: Deadlines and processes vary from state to state, so it is wise to register as soon as you can. Check the for deadlines in other states.
November 3, 2020
Election Day
In Washington state, your ballot must be in a ballot box before 8 p.m. on November 3 or postmarked on or before November 3.
This November, you have the chance to vote for the president, governor and local officials as well as ballot initiatives — all of which are important decisions that impact your life. Voting is a way you can use your civic voice; we encourage you to use it. But first: You need to register.
As the largest and most diverse generation alive right now, young people have a chance to make a real impact in our country — if every eligible voter participates in elections. In order to make sure that you can vote in the upcoming local, state and federal elections, you need to be registered to vote at your current address.
Please take five minutes and .Ěý
Let’s exercise some civic muscle and vote.Ěý#ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵVote
Additional resources
:Â Check your voter registration status and find out more about upcoming elections, including how to vote safely by mail. If you are residing in another state, this website has information about voting in each state.
ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ Vote: Get step-by-step guidance on how to vote and how you can help others vote.
Do you need in-person assistance or did you miss the registration deadline?
Come to the Vote Center at the . It will be open Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Monday, November 2, 8:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, November 3, 8:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m. You’ll be able to register for the first time or update your registration, get a replacement ballot if you need one, or use an accessible voting unit if you have a disability and would prefer an audio ballot, touchscreen or other adaptive equipment. Public health precautions will be in place and wearing a face covering will be required.
This post is an edited compilation of a couple messages sent to students at UW’s Seattle campus to encourage them to register to vote and vote because civic engagement is an important component to a UW education.
This course will take students on an exciting two week field study to the three “wilderness jewels” of Washington state’s national parks, Mount Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades, and follow with class time in autumn quarter. Students should be comfortable hiking moderately strenuous trails almost every day of the trip, camping in remote locations, and traveling and lodging in primitive and close quarters. Through a combination of immersed field study readings and expert speakers, students will not only introduce themselves to these diverse and unique places in our country, but also gain a greater understanding of the purpose of such a system, and look critically at the cultural and environmental issues impacting the National Parks today.
— Excerpt from the course description for “Honors 230: Parks in Progress or Peril?”
When junior Rhyannon Hayes, a political science and history major and environmental studies minor, read the course description for “Honors 230: Parks in Progress or Peril?” she thought it would be a cool experience, a great intro to backpacking and a fun way to explore the Pacific Northwest while satisfying requirements for the UW Honors Program.
Over the course of the two week field study, the students became close friends. Pictured here, from left to right, are Mckenzie Carlson, Aidan DeHan, Rhyannon Hayes, Matthew Tucker and Niki Kafie.
Before this class, Hayes had only been to two national parks in her life. She had hiked only a little and camped in traditional campgrounds, but never backpacked or camped in the backcountry. By the end of the two week field study, she’d visited Washington’s three major national parks: Mount Rainier, Olympic and the North Cascades, had trekked more than 50 miles and spent 11 nights camping. She learned to love dehydrated meals and mastered how to keep a fire alive through rain and the season’s first snow. Days spent hiking and evenings spent chatting around the campfire gave Hayes and her classmates time to bond. She left the class with a solid group of friends.
Honors students and instructors in the course “Honors 230: Parks in Progress or Peril” at Mount Rainier, the first of three national parks they visited and studied. National park experts regularly joined the class. Author Jeff Antonelis-Lapp, pictured on the far right, led the class on a hike through the Sunrise part of the park.
The two week field study gave nine interdisciplinary honors students the opportunity to explore national parks, learn from a variety of experts, observe firsthand how people interact with the park, and decide through their own lived experiences if and why these spaces matter in our collective culture. The course — taught by Honors Program and UAA staff members Aley Mills Willis, Brook Kelly and Laura Harrington — continued as a campus-based seminar through autumn quarter.
The first part of the UW Honors program class “Parks in Progress or Peril” took students to Washington’s three national parks: Mount Rainier, Olympic and the North Cascades. The course continued as a seminar through autumn quarter, where students grappled with the central question: are parks in progress or peril? Course instructors, from left, Laura Harrington, Brook Kelly and Aley Mills Willis.
“If this field study was our buffet of information, experience and sensation, then the autumn discussion section was our digestion of the material,” explains bioengineering major Matt Tucker.
The field study/seminar combination is the latest iteration of a 10-year collaboration between the Honors program and the national parks. “Our goals,” explains instructor Mills Willis, “are to take a unique, enormous and inherently interdisciplinary idea like national parks and break it open, exposing students firsthand to the variety of passions and perspectives that brought these places into existence and those that will preserve them. We want students to grapple with the complex natural and cultural histories of these places, their evolution, and their current and more fragile states. And, we want them to confront that while walking up a mountain trail, peering into a coastal tide pool or visiting significant cultural sites of our region’s native tribes.”
Field learnings: Exploring Makah history and Shi Shi Beach
Olympic National Park archaeologist Dave Conca (sitting on the sand next to the campfire) accompanied the class on a two night backpacking trip. He led the class on a tour of the Makah Tribal Museum and a hike to Shi Shi Beach, where the students discussed what they learned in the museum and applied it to the land they were walking on and the issues the park is navigating.
Dave Conca, Olympic National Park archaeologist, has been collaborating with Kelly, Harrington and Mills Willis for more than a decade. “​Working with the UW instructors and students is one of the highlights of my entire work year,” says Conca. “The high level of engagement with students, their level of sophistication regarding questions and discussion around complex issues continues to amaze and humble me.” Conca finds it so invigorating that he includes it in his annual work plan.
This year, Conca led the class through the Makah Tribal Museum, which tells the story of the Makah Tribe through a collection of artifacts found at Ozette Village site. This group of artifacts provides a uniquely complete story, since the village was preserved as the result of a landslide in the 1700s. Then, while hiking to Shi Shi Beach, Conca discussed how what they saw in the museum related to the land they were walking on. “The students’ observations and questions spur my thinking. After more than 26 years in the field, you can become complacent. Their questions and observations help keep me fresh.”
Shi Shi Beach averages around 300 people a weekend through the summer. The recent uptick in visitors puts a strain on the finite number of campsites, rangers and other park resources. This raises many questions: Are current management tactics — education through permitting and enforcement through park rangers patrolling the beaches — working? Is the current usage harming the parks’ ecosystems? Are the parks being loved to death? Should park guests be limited? How would limiting guests impact the Makah Tribe’s economy?
The class backpacks on Shi Shi Beach where they’ll be camping for the night.
Field learnings: Park advocacy applies to all fields
Collaboration and partnership is essential for how national parks come to be, and how they are managed for the future. Modeling that for students in the structure of the course itself was essential.
Meeting with subject matter experts like Conca is part of the course’s engagement with the history, relevance and evolution of America’s National Park Service, as well as its central question: Is the idea of national parks progressing, or is it in peril? Interdisciplinary exploration is at the foundation of the Honors curriculum, and this class was no exception. Additional speakers ranged from scientists to artists to activists, who all shared their unique perspectives and interest in these places. The guests included the acting superintendent and the volunteer manager of Mount Rainier National Park, UW scientists, the authors of books outlining the natural and political histories of Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks, photographers, poets, historians, exhibit builders and a program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).
Community, environment and planning student Becca Fogel reflects, “Before this class, educating about and advocating for the national parks seemed like a fairly siloed endeavor rooted deep in environmental science and geology — things I’m interested in but not necessarily very passionate about. But our in-class meetings provided me with a better understanding of the far-reaching interdisciplinarity of the Park Service mission.”
Students kept field journals, where they responded to daily prompts about what they were experiencing to “push their powers of observation and understanding of the course material.” Directions included reciting their observations out loud and drawing a couple of their entries. Pictured here: Niki Kafie.
Students kept daily field journals, led group discussions, engaged with course readings and daily class sessions in the field and prepared a final case management project and reflective field journal presentation. The connections made with guest speakers gave students a panel of experts to turn to when working on their parks management case studies.
Hayes, along with group members Andrew Ryan and Nathan Ji, researched the topic of noise pollution in Olympic National Park from Growler jets flying out of the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island. To understand the diverse perspectives, the group connected with Graham Taylor of the NPCA, the superintendent of Olympic National Park, and the public affairs officer for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. “What I really appreciated in working with Graham was that we were able to have a very open and honest conversation about [his experiences] communicating with the Navy to try to have more thorough and comprehensive environmental impact studies,” explains Hayes, who grew up in a Navy family.
To present their results, the three students created, narrated and recorded an audio experience, voiced by them and spearheaded by the group’s “creative genius,” Ryan. The soundtrack took the class through the park in a “magic tent,” similar to a field trip on “The Magic School Bus,” talking about issues with the experts. Hayes describes it as “the most creative project” she’s been a part of.
Field learnings: UW students start NPCA Northwest Student Leadership Council
McKenzie Carlson (left) and Rhyannon Hayes (right) helped start the NPCA Northwest Student Leadership Council. “We’re loving this opportunity to provide students with opportunities to explore our parks, learn of the challenges and develop the leadership skills we need to honor these places,” says Graham Taylor of the NPCA.
As a result of collaborating on the case study, Taylor invited Hayes to help start a NPCA Northwest Student Leadership Council. Hayes recruited classmates Aidan DeHan, Niki Kafie and McKenzie Carlson to launch the group. This new NPCA council, which formed in February, held two events: hosting a recruitment table at the environmental career fair and supporting Taylor in a presentation about North Cascades grizzly bear reintroduction to a class on threatened and endangered species. Following his talk, Hayes and Carlson spoke with students about continuing their conservation work with their council. Their membership is now up to 11 students.
The NPCA talks are open to anyone interested in attending. .
The next two events, a service project on Ebey’s Landing and an advocacy tabling event on Earth Day, had to be cancelled due to public health guidance and efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Still, the group is eager to continue their work and holds weekly Zoom meetings featuring national park experts giving talks and answering audience questions. Speakers so far have included: author and North Cascades expert Lauren Danner; president of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association Clarence Moriwaki; and, on April 23, 2020, author and Mount Rainier expert Jeff Antonelis-Lapp. Hayes’ future plans include collaborating with Carlson, who is president of the UW Hiking Club, to lead hikes and backpacking trips talking with students about issues the national parks are facing and how the NPCA can help. Their mission is to advocate for these beloved wild spaces, so national parks can be enjoyed by future generations.
Field learnings: I can start my conservation work now
In the future, Hayes hopes to continue this work as an elected official and form the first national park in her home state of Pennsylvania. Her vision includes creating a public education space that tells the story of the lands making up the park, the people who’ve lived there, the evolution of the land and our role in protecting it for future generations. Pictured from left to right: McKenzie Carlson, Rhyannon Hayes, Matthew Tucker and Aidan DeHan.
Reflecting on the class, Hayes shares that it “marked one of two turning points I’ve had in my college career in which I took a newly ignited passion, in this case for national parks, and created opportunity. It took me deeper into the wilderness than I had ever been and helped me fall even more deeply in love with the natural world. I learned from all the speakers and in the case of Graham and the NPCA, I found a place where I could take my new knowledge, combine it with my skills in constituent relations and government, and actually become a part of conservation work. I always knew environmental issues were a priority that I wanted to incorporate into my future career, but because of this class, I get to start that work now.”
Photos courtesy of students and instructors in Honors 230: Parks in Progress or Peril.Ěý
