Before arriving at Middlebury, I knew I wanted to major in environmental studies, a topic I've been passionate about for quite a while. After arriving on campus, I discovered that not only do most students at Middlebury share my love for the natural world and desire for positive change, but they are willing to devote their lives to critical environmental issues like the climate change movement.

Attending gatherings of the Sunday Night Group, the environmental group on campus, I was inspired by the tangible changes my fellow students brought about at local and national levels. The ideas and intense energies flowing out of this group have created an incredible community of students that motivates the entire campus to take action on the pressing issues of our generation.

At first, I was concerned that the time I spent dedicated to my classes would detract from my activism on campus. I soon found the opposite to be true — my classroom experiences have proved an essential foundation for my environmental consciousness. I've taken a wide variety of courses, ranging from Japanese Animation to Modern Neo-Paganism, and each one has exposed me to new ideas that push me to critically examine my pre-existing beliefs.

Rather than approaching issues from a strictly scholarly and academic perspective, I have learned how to integrate my developing knowledge from all of my classes into a maturing personal philosophy and awareness of my own place on the earth.