知名度和宣传

Whether she’s giving tours to prospective students, working in the campus garden, or exploring the complexities of the environment, Carlee Berkenkemper’s work around campus and within the community keeps her and service dog, Mia, busy.

 

Carlee knew prior to attending 九州娱乐官网 that she wanted to study on Maryland’s 东部海岸. 从 her experience as a certified naturalist interpreter at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Maryland, and her time as an Animal Husbandry Intern at the National Aquarium grew a love for institute conservation and environmental science. 后 strong connections with coworkers who also attended WC, Carlee knew this is w在这里 她想成为.

 “All the people I looked up to in my volunteer position had the same academic interests and were graduating from the same program 在这里” she expressed. “我不这么认为 t在这里 is a better place to study the environment of the 东部海岸. 我是在 the Chesapeake Bay…it would be a disservice to myself to not study the environment 在这里.”

 Carlee’s passions led her to the Environmental Science and Studies department, w在这里 she quickly fell in love with the courses and support from faculty and staff. 从 the beginning of her first semester 在这里 she knew she had made the right call, “My very 第一个实验室 in ENV 101 we were out in a storm-drainage pond, which I like to call the fancy version of saying ‘ditch on the side of the road’, collecting water and sediment samples and we were using techniques that I had only read about. 在非常 第一个实验室! 那时我知道我的决定是正确的.”

 

 An ENV major at heart, Carlee explored both the 河田校区 and the Campus Garden and began to get involved with local programming. 从鸟在 Foreman’s Brand Bird Observatory to an ongoing internship at the 校园的花园, Carlee enjoys sharing her knowledge with not only fellow students, but with prospective ones 也。.

 When Carlee isn’t studying the environment, one might find her leading prospective 校园周围的学生. 从一年级起就一直是“乔治将军”, Carlee enjoys sharing her personal experiences with her tour groups, “I get so excited talking about the opportunities and the programs in the ENV department 在这里 and I like getting to share that with other people” Carlee said. “我当时压力很大 the college admissions process, so I love watching [prospective students] come through 告诉他们他们会活下来的.”

 It is through Carlee’s work with the Office of Academic Services and the 招生 office that she gets to share her personal experiences on campus with others, “One of my favorite things about admissions is being able to talk about my experiences 在这所学校. I’m employed by OAS and received accommodations from them. 他们已经 been supporting me one way or another 自 freshman year. 我还有机会 to be employed by them and lead workshops, I can pull on my strengths and they help me with my weaknesses, and I love that one doesn’t deny me access to the other”.

  “Visibility is important, and it means a lot to me and I’m very passionate about 残疾的宣传. I get to go on tours and talk from personal experience and I 我觉得这太有力量了. I can only imagine what it would’ve been like for a younger me on a college tour, going on a tour with a guide that has a service dog.”

 Alongside her service dog Mia, Carlee has led hundreds of prospective students around our beautiful campus, including students who later became Generals themselves. 她 hopes that through her work with OAS and the Generals that incoming students will understand how important visibility and support are in the broader campus community,

 “It isn’t just the college being inclusive, it’s the supportive community, and that’s 对我来说是九州娱乐官网最棒的部分. 你有教职员工和美洲国家组织 支持你，但你也有同伴.”