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Alumni Highlights
NWF Alumni Program
National Wildlife Federation alumni consist of former interns, Fellows, Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) grads, Earth Tomorrow participants and other involved youth. Many of these individuals are continuing to invest themselves in myriad ways across the country (and beyond!) -- from working in conservation and sustainability fields, to contributing to international efforts and pursuing post-graduate degrees.
A central component of cultivating youth within NWF is to continue to engage our alumni in a meaningful way. We are working hard to provide opportunities for our alumni to stay involved in the Federation, as well as with our affiliate organizations and with their fellow alums, including the creation of a new Youth Advisory Group to launch in late 2010.
Alums have the opportunity to connect and network with each other by engaging in our various online alumni networks:
NWF Campus Ecology Alumni Facebook Group
NWF Young Professionals Linked In Group
Or sign up for our Young Professionals listserv by emailing campus@nwf.org
Young Professionals Listserv Monthly Bulletin Archive
2010
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2011
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2012
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NWF Young Professionals Advisory Council
In November 2010, National Wildlife Federation formed a Young Professionals Advisory Council in an effort to explore new program directions and outreach strategies, as well as shape new partnerships to stay relevant and effective in our constantly -- and sometimes dramatically -- changing American conservation landscape. This group's members, consisting of NWF alumni (past NWF Interns, Fellows, AYEA grads and other involved youth), will offer a perspective to the Federation's board, staff and affiliates that will help the organization to look ahead to a more complex, dynamic and challenging future.
First NWF Young Professionals Webinar, November 16, 2010 (audio file)
NWF Young Professionals Webinar, March 22, 2011 (audio file) View presentation
Alumni Spotlight
Jessian Choy, 2001 Fellow, University of California, Santa Cruz
Project: Jessian worked to develop the Student Environmental Center – a centralized means for promoting student collaboration on implementing environmentally sound practices on campus, supporting existing student environmental organizations, and encouraging the development of new groups. Thanks to Jessian's Fellowship work, the Student Environmental Center has been going strong for nine years. Over 70 students helped lead 10 campaigns in 2009, 300 people attended the Campus Earth Summit in 2008, and the Center has raised over $120,000 in funding per year.
What is she doing now?: I can often be found on weekend nights researching toxic products to ban from my house. I understand that everyone isn't as obsessive-compulsive about being green. Yet, that's why I have helped organizations create & implement green policies since 1999. At SF Dept. of Environment, I:
- Manage the data & design for the SF Approved List; which was in the NY Times & Fast Company. The List of over 1,000 green products for your home or organization also helps 28,000 City staff be in compliance.
- Work with the Purchasing Dept. to get the best contracted price for green products for all 28,000 SF City staff.
- Helps make it just as easy for SF City staff to recycle toxic products as it is to buy them.
- Implement the City's green purchasing laws, which require manufacturers to disclose all ingredients.
In my free time, I train white crane Indonesian martial arts, and make instant friends by learning how to say "just kidding" in different languages.
Jessian on her Fellowship:
NWF took a risk and invested in my idea for a campus ballot initiative that eventually created a permanent fund to green everything on campus: food, purchasing, transportation, zero waste, etc. As a result, we were able to bring [together] over 40 students, faculty and alumni to be a collective voice for creating a campus plan to save money and protect our health and environment and lay the groundwork for a new student fee that eventually funded a full-time program manager to build momentum even after new leaders replaced graduating students.
Philip Aroneau, 2004 Campus Ecology Fellow, Middlebury College, Vermont
Project: Phil established a vermicomposting system in a pre-existing college greenhouse producing fertilizer from campus dining hall waste for campus and community organic gardening. The project was fully integrated into the campus's organic garden and the worms are now under the care of two paid garden interns and other student volunteers.
What is he doing now?: Phil graduated from Middlebury College in 2007 and now serves as one of the founding coordinators of 350.org, an international campaign that's building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. This past year, 350.org organized what CNN called the "most widespread political day of action in history." On October 24, 2009, they helped coordinate over 5,000 actions in more than 170 countries. Phil's many roles include leading new media projects, youth programs and the Africa/Middle East organizing push. He has also been leading many of 350.org's leadership workshops and attended the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Phil on his Fellowship:
The NWF Campus Ecology program is like a Petri dish for innovative projects run by youth leaders. It provides them a springboard to reach for the game-changing solutions that our ecological crises require.
Emma Mullaney, 2005 Campus Ecology Fellow, Sarah Lawrence College, New York
Project: Emma organized town hall forums to discuss the local effects of energy practices and global warming, engaged campus and community members from the Hudson River corridor and emphasized social and environmental justice. Sarah Lawrence continues its dedication to sustainability through the College's Sustainability Committee.
What is she doing now?: My tortoise, Chloe, and I live in central Pennsylvania, where we are currently exploring every nook and munching our way through a glorious harvest season. I am beginning my second year as a dual-degree PhD student in the Departments of Geography and Women's Studies at Penn State. In addition to studying, I have multiple teaching roles: instructing undergraduates through the Geography Department and horseback riders through the local Pony Clubs. As co-Director of the Guerrera Project and as a research associate with the Foundation for Post Conflict Development, I have recently been working in East Timor on the experiences of female veterans of the Timorese Resistance Movement. For my dissertation, I will be working with maize farming households in central Mexico and studying the ways in which they produce and maintain agrobiodiversity.
Emma on her Fellowship:
The NWF Campus Ecology Fellowship gave me one of my first opportunities to take a formal leadership role in political debates about environmental issues that I was studying in school. It was a formative moment in applying my passions for research and activism in service of a lifelong dedication to the health of social and ecological justice.
Recent News: Emma was elected as one of two Policy Advisors on Biological Diversity to the US youth organization, SustainUS . Emma represented SustainUS as part of a small exploratory delegation to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010. Look for more from Emma on her experience at UN Convention on Campus Ecology's blog!