Eager environmental students break new grounds

Senior  Abby Chaney and Nick Phillips shared their passion for the environment as they attended two different environmental conferences over the summer.

Through their involvement in the natural resources strand in our magnet program, Chaney and Phillips both knew they wanted her grow their passion for the environment by connecting with people across the state and even across the country.

Held annually by Maryland Association of Forest Conservancy District Boards, the Natural Resources Careers Camp was open to all high school students from every county in Maryland to come together to delve into different aspects of forestry.

This week long excursion taught Chaney new techniques and gave her one of a kind experiences that will make her more prepared as she enters the field of forestry.

Chaney explains, “We delved into the forestry management, went tree climbing, created a forestry management plan, we measured actual trees and were able to price them out, and soil surveys.”

Through all these unique experiences, Chaney states, “By doing all of these, we were able to find area we liked the most.”

Now that Chaney has these new skills under her belt she states, “It’s narrowed down what I want to do by doing a bunch of forestry stuff, but now I know I want to study directly wetland aquatics.”

As Chaney was knee deep learning about Maryland’s forests, Phillips began his journey as a student representative at the Washington Youth Summit on the Environment.

George Mason University hosted the event where Phillips explains, “Each day we did a different activity. One day we National Zoo and then we went to National Geographic.”

Students were able to interact with other representatives from all fifty states through daily field activities, “We had specific field days, I went to a company that makes wetlands and keeps them sustained.”

After a long day of saving the environment students had time to unwind, “Everyday we had a special dinner and we dressed up to look fancy.”

In addition to their leaders at the summit, they were visited and greeted by guest speakers, “We had some really cool guest speakers that were really inspiring and knowledgeable.”

Phillips passion for the environment drove him to wanting to become a part of this community, “It really interested me and I wanted to see if it was something I wanted to do for college, which I now know I want to study the environment in more depth.”  

The upcoming generation has a huge undertaking to repair the environment that has been suffocated by pollution. Chaney and Phillips are taking the first step to make a difference in the environmental community.