Introducing EDS Mentor: Lily Walowitz

January 27, 2026

Hi! My name is Lily Walowitz and I joined the Natural Resources Conservation Academy as an Eco-Digital Storytellers Mentor for the 2026 program. I am currently a sophomore at UConn pursuing a Secondary Earth Science Education Degree.

Since I was in kindergarten, I have known that I wanted to be a teacher, but the question was always: what should I teach? It wasn’t until I took a high school environmental science class that I realized that I am extremely passionate about the environment, and I want to share that passion with others.

Picture I took while kayaking in the Pocono Mountains

UConn has allowed me to channel my passion into amazing projects that I am so honored to be a part of. I am proud to be an ambassador for UConn’s Clean Air Quality Initiative in which I help to create lesson plans for students K through 12 focused on DIY air purifier construction. I am also currently in the process of producing teacher explainer videos to instruct teachers on how to assist students in learning about air quality.

Through the 2025 fall Environmental Storytelling course, I decided to use my background in indoor air quality to create a kid-friendly animation about the dangers of indoor air pollution. I landed on this idea because while doing research for elementary lesson plans, there were no informational videos about indoor air pollution for elementary aged children. Along with this animation, my group and I produced an activity book to further reinforce the ideas seen in the animation. Being able to create such amazing forms of media and sharing them with the public has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I hope to inspire others with my project and help high school students develop their own projects that they are passionate about.

In my free time, I love participating in volunteer initiatives that allow me to give back to the community. I am involved with 4H in Vernon at UConn which is an organization where undergraduates travel to schools in Vernon and assist students in STEM activities and projects. I also love going to the beach and being in the ocean, taking pictures of nature, as well as spending time with family and friends.

Eco-Digital Storytellers Mentor Reflection: Amber Hwang

January 16, 2026

Meeting students for the first time at Workshop 1

Wading into my Environmental Storytelling class in the fall of 2024, I never imagined how this program would rearrange the stars as I wayfind the environmental space. When the waters ahead are uncertain, working with high school students at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts (GHAA) through Natural Resource Conservation Academy’s (NRCA) Eco-Digital Storytellers (EDS) inspired joy and hope for our collective environmental future. This experience guiding students as they told community-centered environmental stories using geospatial technology and digital media helped me see the power of radical imagination and creative storytelling in opening pathways for environmental justice.

Students exploring air quality sensor data on a map during a GHAA visit

At the first class visit of fall 2025, students collected temperature, air quality, noise, and biodiversity data using our Urban Forestry Toolkit and Survey123 to map the impact of urban trees on ArcGIS Online. This visit exploring the surroundings of their school showed me the possibilities in returning the classroom to nature and empowering communities to gather their own data for environmental stories.

A highlight of the fall was inviting community partners, Sydney from CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs and Madison from CT Zero Waste Coalition, to visit the classes. After listening to them share their communications and community organizing work, students had the opportunity to practice mock interviews with the digital media techniques they learned. Moved and energized by the climate leaders’ passion and journeys shaping environmental justice futures, we carried that inspiration into students’ own projects as they began workshopping ideas for their concept pitches.

Jamaile and I each sharing the evolution of our projects, including map and film script revisions

As GHAA teachers brought together digital media and environmental science classes to mirror UConn’s interdisciplinary undergraduate course for the new school year, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to community partners working more closely with students in the fall. Reflecting on last spring, I remember learning from conversations about placemaking and murals with RiseUP for Arts and listening to stories about food justice when EDS mentors visited Keney Park Sustainability Project. From workshops on the UConn campus to class visits in Hartford, it has been such a gift to learn from the students, listen to their stories, and hold space for their ideas.

EDS & DDM mentors with the NRCA team at Environmental Changemakers Showcase at the Connecticut Science Center

After many months of crafting their multimedia storytelling projects on StoryMaps, seeing the students share their work at the Environmental Changemakers showcase in April was a proud moment for us all. We also had the chance to interact with posters by Conservation Ambassadors Program students under Difference Maker Mentors (DMM), another impactful NRCA program engaging historically underrepresented youth in environmental action, and hear from panelists who helped us see how environmental action and digital media storytelling fields can be inclusive and intersectional.

Students learning Adobe After Effects at our workshop’s Animation Tech Station

Beyond the digital storytelling skills and environmental justice wisdom this program has sown, EDS has illuminated more paths in my career and life. As I study humanity’s diverse relations and imaginings of the environment through Environmental Studies and English and learn how to visualize and analyze geographic data with maps through Geographic Information Science, in EDS I found a collaborative space where my interests and these disciplines I study uniquely meet. This program’s innovative nature and culturally sustaining pedagogy is truly a paradigm shift embodying the kind of creativity within environmental justice in technology that sparks the courage and solutions the world needs in this era.

Braiding science exploration with storytelling education, EDS has been a community that illuminates the wonders of our world to not only envision, but to co-create regenerative futures. This has been one of the most inspiring experiences of my time at UConn and I will carry it with me always. A special thank you to Laura, Laurel, and Nicole for their thoughtful mentorship, trusting me with this role and helping me grow. Thank you to my fellow fall mentor Jamaile and my spring mentoring cohort for being incredible individuals to have crossed paths and worked with. I am excited for how this program continues to grow, teaching us the art of possibility and reminding us that the stories within our communities can be the maps that help us find our way.

Apply to Be an NRCA Difference Maker Mentor (DMM)!

November 21, 2025

The Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) is now accepting applications for Difference Maker Mentors (DMMs)—UConn undergraduates who serve as leaders for the Conservation Ambassador Program (CAP) and as near-peer mentors to high school teens as they complete a community environmental action project.

We are seeking students from all majors and backgrounds who are passionate about mentoring youth, collaborating on community-based environmental projects, and promoting culturally sustaining, inclusive, and equitable practices.

Details: 4 positions; June 2026–Apr 2027; learn more at https://nrca.uconn.edu/dmm/
Apply by: Jan 2 at 11:59 PM; s.uconn.edu/dmm-app
Questions? Contact Dr. Laura Cisneros at laura.cisneros@uconn.edu

Eco-Digital Storytellers: NRCA Partnership Fuels Major Pedagogical Shifts in K–12 Classrooms

Across Connecticut, the Natural Resources Conservation Academy’s (NRCA) Eco-Digital Storyteller (EDS; https://nrca.uconn.edu/eds/) program is reshaping how teachers approach learning—helping schools integrate environmental science, geospatial technology, digital media arts and youth-centered storytelling into everyday instruction. Despite the cancellation of federal funding, this work is continuing thanks to essential support from UConn’s EMERGE program, which has enabled the NRCA to continue collaborating with educators and expanding opportunities for students.

An EDS participant collecting video in a park

The need is urgent: E-STEAM career fields are growing rapidly, yet historically excluded groups remain underrepresented. Research shows that diverse teams produce more innovative solutions, underscoring the importance of creating accessible, interdisciplinary pathways for all youth. EDS meets this need through a multi-layered model that brings together high school students, teachers, community partners, UConn faculty, and undergraduates to co-develop digital environmental storytelling projects that advocate for local solutions and envision just and sustainable futures.

EDS program participants at a UConn workshop

In just a few years, the NRCA’s EDS team has trained more than 155 teachers, students, and undergraduates, supporting 15 environmental storytelling projects shared with public and professional audiences. This intensive mentoring—paired with hands-on workshops at UConn, curriculum design support, and classroom-based support—has been pivotal in helping teachers adopt high-quality project-based learning (PBL), geospatial inquiry, and interdisciplinary creative practice.

Nowhere is this shift more visible than at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts (GHAA). Rooted in the statewide EDS model, GHAA teachers have worked closely with NRCA to design an ambitious new approach for 2025–26: a dual-enrollment, 2.5-hour interdisciplinary block pairing UConn ECE Foundations of Digital Media with Environmental Science. With NRCA support, teachers are facilitating deep problem-scoping, field inquiry, collaborative StoryMaps, expert feedback loops, and 6–8 week project cycles that position students to “think like” scientists, artists, and storytellers.

These NRCA-supported shifts are transforming GHAA into a flagship site for creative, community-rooted, youth-driven E-STEAM education—and demonstrating the powerful impact of Eco-Digital Storytellers across Connecticut.

Introducing Difference Maker Mentor: Megan Ng

September 29, 2025

Hey everyone! My name is Megan Ng and I’m so excited to be a Difference Maker Mentor for the NRCA Conservation Ambassadors Program cohort of 2025-2026. I’m a sophomore majoring in Natural Resources with minors in Psychology and Urban and Community Studies.

I have a great love for learning and I’ve been interested in every little thing from marine sciences to music all through my life. One thing that’s always stayed consistent has been my passion for the environment and how we interact with it. I also love working with people, learning about them, and helping them get involved in their own passions. It’s only through my experiences at UConn that I’ve found that my passion for both people and the environment can intersect in climate justice.

I’d love to spend part of my undergraduate career helping with research, but for now I tend to focus on global and local studies of injustice with the hope that understanding our world’s systems can help us improve them. With these teachings, I want to bridge the gap between underrepresented communities and environmental spaces with education. I hope that with this mentorship I can help to support people of all walks of life in finding a place in their communities.

Beyond academic work, I love volunteering with Spring Valley Student Farm and the Office of Sustainability at UConn. This year, I’m part of many service organizations to learn more about my college community and connect with others.

I often spend my summers teaching kids about science through fun hands-on activities, but you can always find me at an exhibition in NYC to fill my junk journal. When I’m not working, I enjoy designing, upcycling clothes and accessories, baking, playing video games, and listening to my new favorite artist of the month. There’s always new things to experience here on campus and I can’t wait to continue with this one!

Megan’s mentee group (PB & Bears) ready for fisheries

Exploring tectonic plates at Thingvellir National Park

Introducing Difference Maker Mentor: Ben Baby

September 22, 2025

Hi! My name’s Ben and I’m serving as a Difference Maker Mentor for the 2025-2026 NRCA CAP program. I’m currently in my senior year as a Physiology & Neurobiology student. I love the outdoors and it’s very important to me that we keep our environment healthy as human influence on nature continues to grow.

I was introduced to the CAP program while taking the prerequisite class and it gradually drew me in, and I developed an interest in it. Conservation is essential as it helps preserve the wild, which continues to shrink year after year. The CAP projects are small & focus on helping reintroduce the benefits of the environment to towns and cities that have been experiencing issues due to the disappearance of local foliage and wildlife.

Summit of a hike in Shenandoah National Park

I’m looking forward to life after undergrad, as I’m planning to pursue a career in environmental law. I credit this interest to the books and articles I’ve read about the history of environmental court cases, and how difficult it is to find real “wins” in the world.

I have a deep love of the environment and wildlife, probably due to all the nature documentaries I watched with my family as a child. It’s a dream of mine to visit each continent and see some of the animals and habitats I’ve only seen on screen.

When I’m not in class, I can be found reading, watching a movie or just hanging out with my friends. I also enjoy cooking and make food for myself and my friends when possible. I go on hikes when I can and am planning to go on my first winter hike later this year.

I can’t wait to see what all our participants present at the showcase!

Introducing Difference Maker Mentor: Haley Jordan

September 15, 2025

Haley (right, red life jacket) goes sailing for the first time

Hi! My name is Haley Jordan (she/her) and I’m a Difference Maker Mentor for the 2025-2026 CAP Program! I’m going into my junior year as a natural resources major concentrating in fisheries and wildlife, with a minor in ecology and evolutionary biology!

Haley in high school working to map invasive water chestnut

In high school, my wildlife biology teacher connected me with the NRCA in the form of the now-retired CTP program (https://nrca.uconn.edu/ctp/). She partnered with me to make a project removing European Water Chestnut from a pond in my city, sparking my interest in invasive plants, environmental management, and how to use technology to track environmental data (see the StoryMap on our project here). The project was a bright spot in a bleak time period; it was 2020-2021, and I was attending classes online.

Now, here at UConn, I am always learning and growing. Whether that’s picking up a new instrument, taking a difficult class, or just trying something new, I’m always up for an adventure. I found out in the spring that I love rock climbing!

I don’t know what my end goal is for my career and education, and that’s okay. Right now, my goal is to be a park ranger or guide, but who knows where the future will take me. My plan is to focus on enjoying my college experience until then.

Introducing Difference Maker Mentor: Rachel Palmer

September 3, 2025

Photo taken at the Brevard Zoo and Conservation Hub

Hello!

My name is Rachel Palmer, and I’m super excited to be working as a Difference Maker Mentor for the 2025-2026 NRCA Conservation Ambassador Program (CAP). I was born and raised in central Maine. I am entering my junior year this fall, majoring in Natural Resources with a minor in Environmental Health and Safety.

I am passionate about both education and the environment. Growing up in a rural area, I spent most of my time outside. My childhood was defined by the changing seasons, especially the harsh New England winters. Around 2020, I started to notice that the winter weather I had grown up with was changing; the mountains of snow that once covered my town had been replaced by freezing rain and abnormally warm temperatures. This moment sparked my interest in environmental science, leading me to devote my future to bettering this planet.

After graduating, I plan to attend either graduate school or veterinary school. My ultimate career goal is to work for a federal agency in fisheries and wildlife conservation or management. Later in my career, I hope to return to school to earn a degree in education in order to teach high school biology. Through both research and teaching, I aspire to make a meaningful difference: mentoring the next generation of environmental leaders and contributing to the protection of our planet.

This summer, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in my home state. The hatchery helps conserve the last remaining natural populations of Atlantic salmon in the US. During my time volunteering, I collected blood and tissue samples from the fish to keep track of the remaining endangered species out in the wild.

Through this experience, I was able to learn more about making a difference through conservation, the federal employment system, and the techniques of aquaculture.

In the summer, I stay busy coaching high school lacrosse, teaching swim lessons to individuals of all ages, and taking trips to the beach. On campus, I teach undergraduate and graduate swim lessons at the UConn Recreation Center and volunteer with the Red Cross Club. Outside of academics, I enjoy hiking, making jewelry, playing sports, reading, and going to concerts. My favorite concert I have attended is Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour!

Handling honey bees using beekeeping gloves

Introducing Graduate Mentor: Shanelle Thevarajah

Hi everyone!

My name is Shanelle Thevarajah and I am a second year Ph.D. student at the University of Connecticut, and the Graduate Mentor for the NRCA Conservation Ambassador Program.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Science from the University of Guelph in 2019 with a focus on Zoology and Family/Child Studies. During this time, I realized how much I love the intersection between science and communities, which motivates me to bring both together as much as I can. I worked two seasonal positions at Denver Zoo while completing my undergraduate degree and love science communication. In these roles, I developed activities relating to wildlife conservation, narrated penguin and giraffe feedings, and worked with the teen volunteer program. I love the natural world and have worked/volunteered in a lot of positions where I handled critters – large, small, slithery, crawly… you name it!

Shanelle feeding a giraffe their daily vitamins.

Shanelle handling a tarantula for an invertebrate course lab.

Shanelle handling a Boreal owl that was trapped in a mist net.

From there, I completed my M.S. in Environmental Biology from Regis University in 2021, where my thesis focused on the social behavior of male Asian elephants. I love working in the environmental field and getting others involved in science – in whatever way works best for them.

Shanelle with a herd of Asian elephants in Sri Lanka.

After graduating, I worked for a non-profit in Colorado where I managed internships in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS). These positions were created to build pathways for underrepresented young adults in the conservation field. I acted as a point of contact for interns and park supervisors throughout their programs, while offering training and resources for the intern during their time with us.

Through this position, I traveled to several parks and worked with some amazing interns across the United States. Some of my favorite parks include Saguaro National Park, North Cascades National Park, and Glacier National Park. I managed a fishing and birding program, so I learned how to fly fish and think fish are a super underrated animal. This position inspired me and sparked my interest in mentoring. It’s especially rewarding to see that some of the interns I once supported are still working with the NPS today!

Shanelle after catching a rainbow trout in Estes Park.

Shanelle feeding a hummingbird at Bandelier National Monument.

Shanelle birding at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Shanelle after finding a hidden waterfall!

I began my Ph.D. journey at UConn in June 2024 and have already had the joy of mentoring one cohort of CAP students. I’m excited to continue that work with this year’s group! My research explores what drives and discourages people from pursuing careers in the environmental field, with an additional focus on how mentorship can support the recruitment and retention of historically underrepresented students.

Alongside my research, I’ve developed and led water justice lessons for several high school programs, including Upward Bound and NRCA CAP. I love seeing students connect their own experiences to big questions about equity, environment, and their communities.

Shanelle’s last mentee group during 2024-2025, the Falcons!

Shanelle’s mentee group for 2025-2026 CAP, the Mighty Mice.

In my free time, I love to spend time with my dog (Oswald/Ozzy), cook/bake, and explore new places. I am always down for an adventure and to see what the northeast has to offer! I can’t wait to continue my time at UConn and support more CAP students as they carry out projects that will benefit their communities.

Introducing Environmental Justice Education Intern: Violet Andrews

June 4, 2025

Hello! My name is Violet Andrews, and I am thrilled to be joining the Natural Resource Conservation Academy for the summer of 2025. I am a Senior pursuing a dual degree in Earth Science Education and Earth Science. I am motivated through my love for nature, the outdoors, and providing everyone with an education focused on the environment.

Growing up, I have always felt a strong connection to the outdoors. From exploring the woods and stream behind my childhood home or traveling with my family in our Volkswagen Bus jumping from campground to campground. Through my time in college my connection to nature has only grown. Also, through my education, I have seen the unfair educational disparities placed on communities. The educational gap was so obvious yet going unnoticed by policy makers. This same pattern occurs in situations involving the environment. As I learned more, I saw many environmental burdens placed on the same communities affected most by education inequities.

I have now begun focusing on learning more about the disparities that are the results of policies, practices, and history that must be challenged and changed. I wanted to become an Environmental Justice Education Intern, not only to expand my teaching on the outdoors, but also to learn ways I can use science, communication, and community work to shine a light on environmental issues that often go unnoticed.

Winter 2025, I traveled to Taiwan to study geology. During my time there I focused on creating lesson plans that I could bring back into my classrooms to provide my students with a global perspective. While studying there, I learned about the inequities in education that students also faced. I discussed the ways in which they combat this and expanded my learning with the goal of bringing my knowledge back into my future classrooms. Spending most of my time there outside, I continued to dream of becoming an outdoor educator.

Presenting in Taiwan on the importance of multicultural education

This Environmental Justice Education internship with NRCA is going to be my first opportunity to really experience this. I’ll be supporting PhD student Shanelle Thevarajah in developing a water justice curriculum, engaging with Upward Bound students, and deepening my understanding of environmental justice.

When I am not in the classroom, you will likely find me traveling. Where I am hiking, camping, or reading a book. When I am home, I often go to as many concerts that can fit in with my schedule as possible. Or hanging with my two cats.