Fifty years ago, my grandfather bought a camp in Wanakena, New York. For years, the small house on Cranberry Lake was the place my family spent summer vacations. Wanakena became a place of many family traditions. One of those traditions was a nightly walk. It was a simple tradition — we walked the same circle route every night; together, the five of us would swoon over how bright the Milky Way was, and my mom never missed the opportunity to point out Orion’s belt. I would be on the lookout for frogs and snakes, grabbing them with my little hands if I could to get a closer look, then quickly letting them go on their way.
The route looped us around ESF’s Ranger School. Growing up, I knew the Ranger School only as a group of students in hard hats gazing up at trees for what seemed like hours. My parents would say, “Lindsay, maybe you’ll go to college here and become a ranger one day!” Nine-year-old me, battling with a tomboy identity, scoffed at these comments, but before I knew it, I was a junior in high school with no idea what to do next.
Then I attended a college fair. I walked aimlessly, taking brochures for nursing schools because that’s what my mom did, and what my older sister was doing. I came across a bright green table and before I knew it, I had a pamphlet in my hand. On the front was a vibrant satellite image of the earth, and on the back, a photo of the building I had been circling for 17 years. Soon after I applied as an early-decision applicant to ESF’s Syracuse campus. It was the only school I applied to. I entered the environmental studies program, thinking it was broad enough to figure out what was important to me in this field of work.
So far, so good, as I enter my senior year; the school, the major, the opportunities I found, and the ones that found me at ESF. When I reflect on how I got to ESF, I feel so much gratitude for my PopPop’s hunting camp, for simple traditions, and trusting that knowing what I need to do will come with due time. Just as I circled the Ranger School as a young girl, I believe I ended up at ESF in a full circle.
I have been granted wonderful opportunities, inside and outside of the classroom. From being a part of the soccer team and going to two national championships, to traveling to Puerto Rico with other ESF students to volunteer after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. I am overwhelmed by the experiences I have had through ESF.
Additionally, I have been cultivating a relationship with Planet Forward, which is a platform for college students to engage in storytelling to facilitate positive environmental change. In April of my first year, I traveled to Washington D.C. for the Planet Forward summit. Sitting there, surrounded by students gleaming with passion for connecting people and the planet, I remember feeling I was in the right place. Inspired by the event, and encouraged by my professors, the following two years I submitted stories into the contest. I was a finalist each year, and although I haven’t scored the gold yet, I am energized, and motivated by the acknowledgment.
The opportunity the Planet Forward platform granted me to creatively express concern, and advocate for positive change and solutions through storytelling has been critical in molding my present and future paths.
I hope to ultimately own a farm, where I can produce food for everyone in my community but I don’t feel I am ready to put my roots down yet. Last semester I went to a week-long conference at the United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) in Rome, Italy, as a Planet Forward delegate. This experience enlightened me to the potential that my voice, in combination with others, can have on global policy change. I came to know I have more to learn.
