Graduate Students 2008-2009

The School of Conservation is fortunate to have some Graduate Students each year. These Graduate Students fall into two categories: Graduate Assistants (GA) and Graduate Interns (GI). GA's spend four semesters at MSU/SOC working for their MA in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Environmental Education. GI's dedicate two semesters to learn about the field of Environmental Education and to practice hands-on teaching in the field. GA's and GI's have all earned high honors as undergraduates and benefit from the unique learning experience at SOC. The favor is returned as these students bring commitment, enthusiasm, and expertise to our campus. This year we welcome Joe Donnelly and Aliza Kawecki.

 

Aliza Kawecki

Aliza grew up in New Jersey in a small town not far from SOC. In fifth grade Aliza came to SOC as a student! She still remembers her favorite activity - crossing over the Flatbrook on the cable bridge. Aliza attended High Point High School and had aspirations to be an artist, however her college experience changed all that.

In 2001 she decided to attend Prescott College in Arizona. Freshman orientation at Prescott involved a month long backpacking trip through the Arizona wilderness. While at Prescott College she fell in love with plants. She spent three semesters in Mexico studying coastal ecology and kayaking 250 miles down the coast of Baja Mexico. As a senior project she taught classes in a 'native species garden' at a local public school. In 2005 she graduated from Prescott College, with a degree in Environmental Education.

After graduation, she worked in Vermont at the Keewaydin Environmental Education Center as an outdoor educator. Wanting to explore a new ecosystem on the west coast, she moved to southern California and taught outdoor education in the mountains outside Los Angeles for a year. That was fun, but she missed hardwoods of the northeast and returned to New Jersey to work at Ridge and Valley Charter School. After a year of teaching at the charter school, her love of the natural environment kicked in and she landed the Graduate Internship at SOC. Aliza brings a wealth of knowledge and teaching experience to her new positions and everyone at the SOC is delighted she has decided to join us. Aliza also enjoys live music, traveling to other counties where communication is challenging, mycology, photography, and kayaking.

 

 

Last year (2007-2008) we were fortunate enough to have Rebecca Donatelli, Lindsey Konkel, Amy Manning, and Elyssa Serrilli.

Rebecca Donatelli

Rebecca is originally from Point Pleasant at the Jersey shore. In May 2007, she graduated from Bryn Mawr College, in suburban Philadelphia, with a BA in Biology just one course shy of an environmental studies concentration. Rebecca was a recycling representative for four years and worked as a teaching assistant in the “Fridays in the Lab” program which was designed to provide students with a college level ecology experience. While at Bryn Mawr, Rebecca was extremely active in residential life and served as a resource and mentor for other students in her dormitory for two years as a hall advisor and one year as a freshmen orientation leader. In her senior year, Rebecca served as a “Safe Space” representative providing a confidential space for students with questions of sexual identity to come and talk. Currently, Rebecca’s career goals lie within the field of environmental education. In her free time she enjoys scrap booking, laying on the beach, and learning how to play the piano!

Lindsey Konkel

Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lindsey received a BA in Biology in May 2007 from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. While in College, She was co-chair of the Science Ambassadors, a group that leads science outreach programs for area middle-school students. Lindsey was also a teaching assistant, a retreat leader, an undergraduate research assistant in a cell biology lab, and a member of the college ski team. This past summer, she held an internship at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC where she was a laboratory assistant in the nutrition lab. While at the National Zoo, she was also a behavioral monitor and exhibit interpreter for the zoo's Golden Lion Tamarin Free-Range Program. In her free time, Lindsey enjoys training for marathons, writing, and photography. Her educational goals center around a career in environmental journalism.

Amy Manning

Amy grew up in Hunterdon County, NJ, and graduated from Rutgers University (Cook College) last spring with a BS in Ecology and Natural Resources. Prior to working at SOC, she had a number of environmental and outdoor education jobs, including five consecutive summmers spent teaching wilderness survival and nature awareness. Amy plans to pursue a career in education.
Amy has way too many hobbies to list, but most of them involve either playing outside, making things, or both. Some of her favorite things to do include knitting, birdwatching, investigating ethnobotany, and developing primative skills.

Elyssa Serrilli

Elyssa grew up in central New Jersey and attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick. After two years of study in Chemistry and Linguistics, she decided to leave school to pursue a year of environmental service learning in the AmeriCorps/NJDEP Watershed Ambassador Program. That year proved to be a turning point in her career, as she discovered the fun and impact of environmental science, outdoor education, and community service. She returned to Rutgers the following year to continue her studies, earning a BA in Linguistics with a minor in Environmental Science in 2004.

After college, Elyssa worked for four months in NJDEP’s Green Acres Program monitoring publicly funded parkland for proper use and maintenance, a position which took her hiking around some of the most beautiful places in central and north Jersey. Her next job was as the Environmental Crew Chief of the NJ Youth Corps of Newark, NJ, a welfare-to-work program for out-of-school youth aged 16-25. In this position, Elyssa led a work teams in service projects like tree planting, clean up, and community outreach, and endeavored to instill a love of the environment and sound employability skills. She worked with NJYC for two and a half years, carrying out program development and fundraising.

Elyssa is a two-time AmeriCorps alumna, a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Rocky Mountain Educator Course, and a former summer intern at Rancho Mastatal, a sustainable living and education center in the Costa Rica rainforest. She is currently a graduate student at Montclair State University pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Education and an intern at the NJ School of Conservation, MSU’s field school. Her research projects consist of the Justification and Design of NJ Youth Corps Biodiesel Worksite and Service Learning for Sustainable Redevelopment at NW NJ’s Outdoor Ed. Centers. In her free time, Elyssa enjoys team sports like soccer and ultimate frisbee, outdoor pursuits like backpacking, paddling, rock climbing and going to the beach, and delving into sustainable living skills.