Degree/Year: English, 2012
Company: The Climate Reality Project
Position: I AM PRO SNOW Program Manager
City/State: Washington, D.C

I run an international program working to help winter sports and mountain communities fight climate change. My role dictates me planning and executing the program and campaign, working with staff and volunteers across the country, and ensuring that we’re able to get the story of our campaign out there to as many as we can.

Don’t get caught in the trap of waiting for opportunity to come knocking.

I was an English major who focused on creative writing, specializing in peace and justice. It could not have been a better major for this position had I known what I would be doing years down the line. Every single day, the skills that I honed while in my English classes – writing, critical thinking, etc. – are critical to the work that I do. My job requires a significant amount of writing and demands a certain level of expressiveness that I would not have had, had it not been for my years of study on the subject.

I followed my passion. I put myself out there every single day, wading through a lot of muck in order to really figure out what it was that I liked doing most. Your time at State will probably be the easiest time to find those things you care about most – don’t get caught in the trap of waiting for opportunity to come knocking. You’re the one who has to put in the work and find it. But if you do that work now, when you have more support than you could ever imagine, it will pay off significantly in the long term.