Sarah Cabot-Miller graduated from MWS in 2010. We are delighted that she remains a regular visitor at our events and look forward to hearing more about her life as her career unfolds.
It is crazy to think that it has been ten years since my class graduated from Meadowbrook. A lot can happen in ten years. Here is a short description of what I have been up to since then.
Directly after graduating from Meadowbrook, I attended North Kingstown High School where I took part in Adventurer’s Club, joined in some small theatrical performances, and spent a lot of my time playing in a band with some friends. I took a handful AP classes, one of which being AP Environmental Science which sparked my passion for what I ended up studying in college.
After graduating from North Kingstown High School, I enrolled in the School of the Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. There I majored in Natural Resource Management and minored in International Community Development. This combination of major and minor pinpointed my enthusiasm for understanding how communities around the world interact with natural resources, and what decisions across society can aid in shaping sustainable natural resource use and management. This area of study provided me with many incredible opportunities including organizing sustainability-focused community events, working hand in hand with local organizations, a large number of hands-on-learning courses, individual research opportunities with professors, and many travel opportunities.
While on campus, I was involved in the school’s rock-climbing team, the Vermont Student Climate Coalition, the Horticulture Club, and was intertwined in the local music scene through a few student bands. I worked at the Office of International Education, helping place local students with study abroad programs, and organizing activities for international students and study abroad returnees. Though I loved being in Burlington with all my heart, I spent two semesters abroad, expanding my international and interpersonal experiences. This included a seven-month abroad experience, studying and living in Spain, during which I worked on improving my Spanish, visited some relatives throughout the country, and hiked El Camino de Santiago. For my second term abroad, I participated in a field-based, environmentally focused program, during which we traveled throughout Australia studying the sustainability movement and different forms of environmental action across the country. During this time, I deeply increased my understanding for climate action and green decision making. These experiences thoroughly fueled my curiosity, and my passion for travel, international community involvement, and experiential learning.
Upon graduating from UVM, I spent some time working for Brown University’s Superfund Research Program in partnership with the Narraganset Tribe. We organized and analyzed data concerning fish, water, and sediment contamination from two main ponds on the Narraganset reservation and worked towards understanding how tribal individuals interact with fish and/or water from these two ponds. As part of this project, we crafted workshop materials and created lesson plans that will serve to help educate tribal members about contamination found in those specific ponds. Though my working full time for this program has come to an end, I now volunteer a few hours a week, contributing toward the final report for this project.
Most recently, I have accepted a position as the Park Naturalist for Burlingame Campgrounds. As I understand it, I will be organizing educational environmental programs to offer campers throughout the duration of their stay. As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoy working with people and, to me, the most rewarding work is when I get to share my love and enthusiasm for the environment with others in a way that can make a lasting impact! As I move forward, I hope to continue following my passion for the environment and community action and see where it takes me.
