I found my Voice through my Environmental Studies

I am in college ready to be someone entirely dedicated to what I believe in and have a prominent voice in this adult world. I started off as a Wildlife major thinking working animals be my life later in the future. I switched over to Environmental Studies,  and wow I was blown away by the terminology. The deep-rooted passion that my professor Sarah Ray brought to the classroom every day about so many real-world problems. I starting this major in my second year of college was a blessing in disguise, looking back now. I thought at first what did I get myself into picking a major when every class lecture is all about depressing events around our earth and how many cannot be solved. I have battled with my sense of self-doubt if our world could actually be saved or not after being introduced to many foreign ideas plus thoughts. More than not the material in the course has been a tough pill to swallow.

Reading Sarah’s work the  “The Affective Arc of Undergraduate Environmental Studies Curricula” and reading this quote by her:

“working through their emotional responses, considering and responding to the emotions of others, and conversing, thinking, and reflecting, builds community and cultivates the ecological imagination: these are all actions”(12).

This quote made me realize how deeply willing she as a professor and a person to make her students the best they can be while staying mentally, emotionally, plus physically stable. The concepts I have learned throughout the years by Sarah Ray, I know I wouldn't have come to these ideas or thoughts ever in my life. Another quote that definitely explains the experience I have had in Sarah’s class is that we “the ‘Students’ deep engagement with the material is a sign of success, and our task is to politicize and direct those emotions in ways that give them a sense that they are improving the world” (Ray 2). Improving the world and having now the skills to cope with tough depressing ideas brought many of my classmates and I to the end goal ‘Capstone project’. I am doing a learning base service project with Trinidad Coastal Land Trust located in the beautiful city of Trinidad, CA. I am using my knowledge and experience from my classes and experiences to be the best intern I can be for this organization. I am stoked already having almost 20 hours done and many more to go. I get to learn how a non-profit land trust works and learn many skills of what needs to happen to keep the organization running strong. I am glad to have this opportunity to learn more about the environment, community, the history of where I am going to school. Environmental Studies major has given me a window of opportunities that will greatly help my future job and personal goals in my life.