I have been involved in environmental education for about three years now, and I have never felt more connected to or passionate about a career path. I found the Adventure Education program at Plymouth State University in 2023, which has helped me with the path of figuring out what I wanted to do, who I am, and who I want to become. Over the past few years, I have found that environmental education has given me a direction that feels genuinely meaningful to me.

I have previous experience in Scouts, where I developed many of the outdoor skills, along with my values regarding conservation. Though scouts have helped me build a foundation, my love for nature came from my desire to connect with my surroundings throughout my childhood and teenage years. I have always enjoyed being outside, exploring, and learning about the world around me. 

Baseball has also been a major part of my life. Spending so much time competing, playing, and bettering myself for a specific goal has taught me a lot about perseverance, failure, and cultivating a positive environment. In a lot of ways, both baseball and the outdoors have helped me figure out who I am and what is important to me. 

Throughout the hardest times in my life, I have always turned to nature as a source of mental, physical, and social healing. Whether this desire to emerge myself in nature was conscious or not, it's no question that I value my connection to nature deeply. One of the most effective ways I have found to deepen this connection is through learning more about the natural world, understanding how we can preserve it, and creating opportunities for other people to experience it as well.

Educating others on the environment and conservation has become a huge passion of mine. I love being able to take something I am excited about and share it with others, whether that's through teaching outdoor skills, expeditions, ecological education, or simply giving someone an opportunity to experience nature in a way they may not have previously.