DukeEngage in Orange County, California

  • Description: This DukeEngage program promotes women empowerment through education. I worked with a team of 7 other students from Duke at Eureka! STEM summer camp for girls from grades 7-10. The majority of these girls are underrepresented minorities whose families make less than $30 000 annually. I taught classes on STEM and health, and led a variety of activities for these girls. As well as serving as mentors and leaders to these girls, my DukeEngage team and I designed immersive and engaging STEM lesson plans to implement (all with the theme of water/sanitation). My specific lesson plan was on water scarcity and treatment processes. I designed role play activities and engineering experiments to teach the girls about different types of barriers that lead to water scarcity (physical, economic) and impacts that it can have on education, health, hunger, poverty, and gender equality. Working at this camp and interacting with the girls made me think about poverty, homelessness, love, and empowerment in a new way, which is important in understanding the relation between science, engineering, and its impact on society.
  • Relation to GC Focus: I designed and implemented a lesson plan on water scarcity and treatment technologies/processes in an engaging, informative way. By informing the next generation of change makers on this pressing problem, future research and action is inspired. Additionally, deeper understanding into socioeconomic issues is important as it is often poorer communities that are affected first by water scarcity and distribution issues.
  • Supervisor: Marlee Krieger
  • Start Date: 06/14/2019
  • End Date: 08/09/2019
  • Total Hours: approx. 360 (45 hours per week for 8 weeks)

Operation Climate

  • Description: After great success from creating the Operation Climate podcast, several students and I expanded the podcast even further to co-found a full fledged 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Operation Climate is a global, youth-led organization focused on empowering youth climate educators, storytellers, and creatives. We create a variety of digital multimedia resources meant to communicate climate issues in an engaging way. Our students interview world-renowned climate scientists, entrepreneurs, activists, politicians, artists, and more to create compelling climate stories. We also host a youth climate communication internship and ambassadors program, where high schoolers from around the world engage in science communication workshops, guest speaker events about careers in sustainability, and create their own climate action projects. Examples of projects that our students have engaged in include creating Operation Climate podcast episodes, creating educational climate video projects, writing research papers, and organizing environmental education and cleanup events in their own communities.
  • Relation to GC Focus: This non-profit organization is meant to provide accessible scientific information, facilitate environmental literacy,  and start conversations surrounding all kinds of environmental issues– including those concerning water. We help our students create meaningful environmental change in their own communities. Some projects that we’ve mentored our students on have engaged in directly address clean water — for example, creating educational infographics about ocean ecosystems and water pollution, organizing a beach cleanup, etc.
  • Supervisor: Self led. Directors on the Board of Directors include Tyler Felgenhauer, Mark Borsuk, and more.
  • Start Date: August 2020
  • End Date: Present
  • Total Hours: 15 hr/week

We hosted about 40 high schoolers from around North American in a summer climate communication virtual internship program in 2021. During our capstone, students presented the climate education & communication projects they spent the summer working on.

One of our podcasts featured Dr. Adam Met, the executive director of Sustainable Partners Inc. and also full-time rockstar in the band AJR. As a long time fan, interviewing him about climate action in the music industry was a dream come true for me!

learn more about Operation Climate here: https://operationclimatepo.wixsite.com/operationclimate