Emma is Blue Elements Water Quality and Education Specialist.
Why did you choose to serve with Blue Elements? I have always gravitated towards being outside and understanding the natural systems we are dependent on. This has manifested itself in different ways over the years, but my interest in water started in high school. Curiosity about the weird taste of my Grandparent’s well water in rural southwestern Pennsylvania sprouted into an understanding of fracking and the value of accessible clean water. I was drawn to Colorado and the Arkansas River for the importance of their water to so many different stakeholders, and so many of those being human groups. As water resources continue to be stressed and degraded, the consequence of understanding and advocating for rivers in this region is a motivation for me. I reached out to Blue Elements for these reasons and am grateful they saw me as a fit for this AmeriCorps position.
What’s a moment during your service that made you feel proud or deeply connected to the mission of watershed stewardship? Every other Friday during the school year I get to work with students from Lake County High School through their Project Dream program. We go out to one of Blue Element’s River Watch sites and do our sampling, but more than that, we spend time. I usually have a water based lesson planned, and often we’ll talk about those topics I have prepared and explore different ideas related to the site we are at. I feel the most connected to the mission of watershed stewardship when a student I am working with takes ideas we have talked about in their own way, with their own curiosities and past knowledge. Enabling students to form connections to the natural ecosystems around them is powerful.
How do you recharge or stay grounded when the work gets tough? My grounding activities when work feels tough are being with community, being active outside, and being inactive outside. This is the first longer term job I’ve worked in a while that involves inside desk work, and my coping mechanisms definitely reflect that.