Class of 2002

Ingrid Attleson

I chose to be an ES major because of the interdisciplinary opportunities offered by the program.  I chose to study the environment because of its importance as the basis of everything else.  I especially realized this when I moved from rural Wisconsin, where much of my food come directly from the garden and local farmers, to the city where composing is a luxury instead of the norm.  In the near future, I am apprenticing to a master organic gardener and a carpenter.  My lifetime goal is to save the world.

Cristin Beach

I chose to be an ES major because I wanted to study something that interested me and that would give me skills to make a difference somehow.  Also, it helped me tolerate my economics major.  Environmental Economics is very interesting to me and in that way, economics and environmental studies complement each other well.  I've always felt that I didn't know enough about environmental issues so this was a great opportunity to learn and inspire further interests.  Immediately after graduation, I am participating in the JET program, a Japanese education program where I will be teaching English for a year in a public Japanese school.  After this opportunity to travel, I would like to explore my options in environmental policy work and eventually continue my education.

Kathryn Benz

I became an environmental studies major after taking Global Biodiversity/Biology of Conservation with Al Romero my first semester at Macalester.  He convinced me that it would be in my best interest to become involved with the program.  I’ve found that he was right, and that as a major I not only better understand the complex debates surrounding environmental issues, but also how I, as an individual, can participate in these debates.  After graduation I am packing up my stuff to move to New York City.  Once in New York, I’ll be working for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as a paralegal.  After my fill of the big city, I’ll attend law school (preferably someplace warm).  I know it seems like I won’t use my ES knowledge in my professional life, but rest assured I will always keep a special place in my heart (and as an alumnus, my wallet) for the Environmental Studies Program.

Nate Bills

There are two reasons why I chose to become an ES major.  One of them was beyond my control, the other wasn't.  I grew up in a fairly environmentally-conscious family that placed an emphasis on exploring the out of doors, and from that I took away something of a Leopoldian love and knowledge of the land.  Much later when I arrived at Mac, I witnessed a lot of the sprawl taking place around the Twin Cities -- how it appeared to me to be decreasing the quality of life.  I feared that simple market forces probably wouldn't curb the  spread of consumption and urbanization, and realized in an intuitive flash that if I cared passionately about anything at all, it was the environment.  This summer I plan on moving to Portland, Oregon, and spend some time outside, relaxing.  My five year plan looks something like this: 1) Find work as a journalist for awhile, 2) Move to Latin America for a few years, master Spanish, and organize on issues of environmental justice and workers' rights, and 3) Move back to the U.S. and attend Graduate School for either a) English, b) Journalism, or c) Philosophy.

Joel Creswell

I chose to be an Environmental Studies major because I saw it as the best way to use my liberal arts education to effect positive change in the world.  Environmental issues are becoming more and more complex, and the only way we'll ever be able to solve any of our problems is if we understand them and can address them from an interdisciplinary standpoint.  After graduation, I plan to spend a year working as a research assistant before going to graduate school to study environmental science and marine mammals.

Katrina Dillon-Fish

I became an Environmental Studies major because I have always loved nature and the world around us.  I wanted to do something that would let me work with environmental issues and study many different aspects of resource management.  I liked the interdisciplinary nature of the major and how it also allowed me to easily double major in economics so I could study policy issues from many angles.  After graduation I plan to work with environmental policy issues here in Minnesota.

Neil Frakes

I decided to major in Environmental Studies because I believe in the preservation of natural landscapes.  I think I have always believed in something like Leopold's Land Ethic: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the beauty, integrity, and stability of the biotic community; it is wrong when it tends otherwise."  Through the ES major, I have been really able to further develop my own land ethic, and to understand the environmental processes that are crucial to developing a land ethic, and how humans have disrupted those processes.  I hope to use my ES major to work for preserving natural landscapes.  After graduation, I have a summer job as a Wetlands Restoration Technician, helping out with a study on mitigating invasive species in wetlands.  I hope to go to graduate school in the near future and study Biogeography and/or land management.

Michael Gelardi

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest looking at patches of clear-cut forest and listening to stories of out-of-work loggers.  I always thought there had to be a better way to think about natural resources and their value to humanity, and I suppose I came to Macalester in part to figure out what way that was.  After four years as an environmental studies major, I still don’t have the answer, but with the knowledge and skills I’ve accumulated, I figure I can at least ask good questions.  After graduation, I plan to pursue study in environmental law and public policy with the hope that someday my questions will be answered.

Cynthia Harrison

When I entered Macalester, I was planning to be a chemistry or biology major.  I was in the Hughes Science Institute, so I was exposed to biological research before my first-year.  During one of our Hughes meetings, Professor Al Romero talked to us about environmental racism and the need for more people of color in the environmental arena.  This triggered everything that has happened since and helped me to formulate my passion for environmental justice through my Environmental Studies major with my Comparative North American Studies minor (Ethnic Studies).

Currently, I am hoping to work for the Rethinking Tourism Project (RTP), an international NGO working on tourism and Indigenous Rights.  When I interned at RTP in Spring 2001, I worked on the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) and how it would affect Indigenous Peoples.  If I receive the position at RTP, I will be the office manager, working on the administrative end but also helping out in all the other facets of RTP's work.

Mary Jessica (Jessie) Knoll

When I entered Macalester, I knew the basics about the big bad environmental problems plaguing the earth -- I knew the chemistry of acid rain, the effects of nuclear waste, and such -- but I wasn't so sure of the real causes of these problems.  Studying at Macalester has allowed me to gain a much more in-depth approach as to the political, social, anthropological, economic, ethical, and psychological root causes of environmental destruction.  I wanted to gain this knowledge within an intimate liberal arts atmosphere of rich learning, surrounded by students studying within many disciplines.  The Macalester environmental studies program allowed me to share knowledge with professors and students from many departments.  After graduation, I will spend a year in Philadelphia as the plant propagation intern at the UPenn arboretum.  After that, I plan to travel through South America with the WWOOF program, Willing Workers On Organic Farms.  My long-term interests include permaculture (a form of sustainable agriculture and lifestyle), pteridology (the study of ferns), and ecological restoration, particularly in monarch butterfly habitat in Mexico.

Marcel Korvela

Originally intending to major in Biology, I became very interested in the Environmental Studies field during the summer between my sophomore and junior year working and spending time at the Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area.  What I really enjoy about environmental studies is the holistic approach that is taken when discussing certain issues and developing plans and strategies to help combat today's environmental issues.  As of now, my future plans are uncertain, but I plan to take this summer off and next fall focus on finding a job related to my major or entering graduate school to pursue further interests.

Karen Lucatelli

There are many communities within the larger community of Macalester.  I became an ES major because I found the Environmental Studies Department was the most supportive and interesting of these communities.  More than anything, majors and faculty share a space of similar but multifaceted passions and goals.  The major is flexible enough to allow additional emphases.  I plan to combine my English and biology backgrounds to an environmental field.  The future is open.  I plan to save the world.

Pam Montbach

I chose Environmental Studies as my major after I took an Ecology class sophomore year.  I started out as a Biology major and found I was less interest in the cellular and molecular aspect and more interested in ecology and the environment.  The major also allowed me to take a lot of courses outside of my discipline like economics and eco-feminism for example, and this was also appealing to me.

Catherine Neuschler

I think I knew I wanted to be an environmental studies major when I was eleven.  I went on a trip around the Chesapeake Bay in my home state of Maryland, and was suddenly exposed to nature and environmentalism on a grand scale.  Since that time, I've been interested in environmental issues, and when I came to Macalester the community and the diversity of issues in the Environmental Studies program convinced me I had made the right decision.  After graduation, I will be working with Grassroots Solutions, a political consulting firm in St. Paul.  I then hope to get a graduate degree in Public policy and become an environmental policy analyst.

Natalie Paul

I chose to become an Environmental Studies major because I realized I would like to add something else to my Biology major and ES was a perfect fit for me.  I plan on studying abroad in Copenhagen in the fall where I hope the gods will shine down upon me and tell me what to do with the rest of my life.

Anna Payden

When I arrived at Macalester I was undecided about what my major was going to be.  After taking a wide variety of classes my first year and a half at Mac, I chose Environmental Studies.  I have always loved being outdoors and took many trips around the country with my family while I was growing up, which instilled a great love for landscape.  Out of this came a concern for the condition of the physical environment (urban and rural) and an interest in human-environment interaction.   I combined my Environmental Studies major with a core in Anthropology to focus on the intersection of human culture and physical environments--how the environment is used by humans, how humans are affected by their environments, and how this in turn affects inequality and human rights issues.  Last summer I was lucky enough to participate in an internship in Belize dealing with organic agriculture in a tropical setting, which was a fabulous learning experience.  At the moment I am unsure of my post-college path.  I am not immediately attending graduate school, but am currently searching for a job that will not keep me in an office 40 hours per week!

Aaron Reser

I came to Macalester planning to be an Environmental Studies major because I was interested in biology, ecology, and other sciences that involved spending a lot of time outside.  Since then my concept of "environmental studies"  and my personal interest has broaden dramatically to include social, political, and economic aspects of the discipline as well.  This summer I'll be working on Easybean, a Community Supported Agriculture farm, and further into the future, I plan to start my own farm specializing in green peppers and alpaca, whose hair my fiber-arts directed friends will weave into socks.

Bimbika Sijapati

I chose to be an ES major because I was interested in examining the ways in which environment and development issues are interrelated, especially in the context of developing countries.  The major has provided me with a broad overview of the various environmental challenges confronting many different countries including both developed and developing.  Further, it has provided me with the tools and techniques to better understand the different aspects of environmental problems from scientific, economic, ethical and many other perspectives.  I plan to pursue graduate studies in the field of environment and development.  I have applied to graduate schools in the UK and in Switzerland.  At this point, I am just waiting to hear back from them.

Laura Smith

I love the diversity of classes that being an Environmental Studies major has allowed me to take.  My interests are very varied, and I am curious about many subjects and ways of learning.  I also feel a close connection to the natural world and am interested in learning how it works, and how we can better protect it. Mostly though, I just found the environmental studies, and the people in the department to be a lot of fun!  After graduation I am working at Sawbill Canoe Outfitters in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota through October.  After that, I'm dreaming about returning to Bolivia, where I studies abroad, to travel and volunteer.  I hope to end up in Northern California teaching environmental education sometime before next spring or summer.

Melinda Suelflow

I became an ES major because I liked the interdisciplinary aspect of the major, and I was interested in environmental politics.  I was taught the importance of recycling and not wasting energy as a kid so that early education influenced my perspective on environmental issues.  For the summer I plan to work at the Highland Grill and save money to move to London for six months or at least travel a bit in the fall.  I haven't made any larger career/employment plans.

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