Howdy y’all!
My name is Sydney Seldon, and I’m a Junior at UConn majoring in Environmental Science and Sustainable Communities.
You might recognize me from the NRCA’s Conservation Ambassador Program, in which I participated as a Difference-Maker Mentor throughout most of the ’22-’23 academic year. My time as a DMM and personal explorations regarding accompaniment, culture, and social well-being have shaped my academic pursuits and, beyond all else, my being.
A fruit of these ponderings is Sustainable Communities; an individualized major focused on cultivating communities in which tangible and intangible needs are recognized and met through the promotion of empathy, grace, and culturally relevant action that promotes the spiritual and physical reconciliation of the environment and relational networks.
My ultimate joy in pursuing Sustainable Communities is connecting my faith, passions, and “big” questions to my course material and encouraging others to explore their curiosities and pondering questions such as: “What does it mean to pursue social well-being?” or “How do we pursue justice in a world where oppression runs rampant?”. These questions have allowed me to empathize with the suffering and embrace the joys of life with people, which is among the most worthwhile ways to spend our time on this planet.
When I’m not pondering questions like the ones above, you’ll likely find me wandering around used bookstores, volunteering, exploring Willimantic, reading my Bible, playing ukulele, and cooking yummy things in my kitchen.
Along with being an EDS Mentor, I’m an intern at the Office of Sustainability, Student Leader/Give & Go Program Director at Community Outreach, CAHNR Ambassador, and involved in a medley of other research/extracurricular shenanigans. I’m incredibly excited to continue working with the NRCA as an EDS Mentor by walking alongside high school students who have (or soon will) explore many of the same questions I’ve pondered. Together, we’ll learn to articulate those questions about their community and propose culturally relevant answers through digital media storytelling!
NRCA’s Eco-Digital Storytellers is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program. The material on this webpage is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2148606. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.