The Nicholas School alumna and donor reflects on environmental education, faith and philanthropy, and stepping outside of your comfort zone.
You delivered the closing comments at the recent Critical Minerals event in DC. How did that go?
I was honored to be asked! I really wanted to do justice to this important topic. That was my goal. It was so nice to meet Jerry Lynch [Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering] and hear about some of the amazing research being done around critical minerals.
What initially sparked your interest in the environment?
I was always outside as a kid. I grew up in a beautiful area of Baltimore, close to a stream, and I loved exploring and horseback riding.
I later majored in environmental science at Northwestern. I landed on that particular major because I loved how it put all the pieces together. This was back in the 90s, when no one was doing anything interdisciplinary. But it took these various subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, geology, and brought them all together to make sense of the world.
After college, I worked as an environmental education intern. I created an outdoor camp curriculum and ran the summer camp for kids at a prairie conservancy in northern Illinois. I absolutely loved it — I loved working with the kids, I loved creating educational programs, I loved everything about it. And I realized that this was what I wanted to do.
I went to Duke’s website and saw a dual Master of Arts in Teaching and Master of Environmental Management, and it made sense to me. I could get both the education side and the environmental side, and get a much broader degree that I could probably apply in a lot of different ways.
I ended up enrolling in 2001. After teaching for a year at Durham high schools, I began my classes at the Nicholas School. I graduated in December 2003 with two master’s degrees.
You have been a big supporter of the Community Science Initiative at the Duke Marine Lab. What inspires you about this project?
It was so nice to be able to meet [Liz DeMattia, Director of the Community Science Initiative] in person at the Marine Lab this past fall. I learned how they were creating books and using them after hurricanes to help kids process the devastation that they were seeing.
It’s the human component that I love the most. To me, it’s a perfect example of environmental education. As cool as the research is, and I love the research, I love it even more when we’re involving people and kids, and using it almost as a form of therapy.
It was so cool the way Duke was taking these environmental issues — plus the arts, education, and community — and pulling them all together.
[I wanted] to understand more about the relationships between environmental justice, health, poverty, and all of these aspects — just the way they’re so intertwined for so many people. For me, you don’t just save the environment for the sake of the environment, you also save it for the sake of the people’s health and wellbeing.
It also impressed me that, even though this was happening in what tends to be a conservative community on the coast, and Duke is seen as a more liberal institution, it was still able to help bridge the gap. It’s a way to say, ‘We’re all people here. We’re here to help. We’re here to serve.’
How did you come to serve on the Nicholas School’s Board of Visitors?
I served a term on the Alumni Council after graduation but had to step back to focus on other things. At the same time, I kept reading the Nicholas School magazine and following what was going on with the school. Then, several years ago, Christy [Thompson, Director of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving at the Nicholas School] reached out and asked if I wanted to get re-engaged.
She also asked if I would like to come check out the board, and I agreed. I think what I love most about Nicholas is that it’s doing such stellar research, and it’s an honor to be a part of that. It’s driving policy decisions and having real-world impact.
Why is the intersection of the environment, health, and poverty alleviation especially important to you?
So much of this comes back to my faith. I believe we were given a responsibility to steward our natural resources. I believe if we’re not taking care of the earth, then we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing.
That led me to want to understand more about the relationships between environmental justice, health, poverty, and all of these aspects — just the way they’re so intertwined for so many people. For me, you don’t just save the environment for the sake of the environment, you also save it for the sake of the people’s health and wellbeing.
You now work in development for education. What do you like about this work?
After I graduated from Duke, I got married and we moved to Philadelphia. When I found out we were going to have a baby, I decided to stay home for a while. When I was home with her, I needed an outlet, so I started doing a lot more volunteering with local nonprofits. I would volunteer with Northwestern and their reunion campaigns. And I just kind of stayed involved with that. I was also raised in a family where philanthropy was a big deal. My father chaired several large boards. Giving back was part of how I was raised.
When I started working again 10 years ago, I wasn’t quite prepared to go back to the classroom. I ended up going to one of my daughters’ schools and working in the advancement office there, because it was just a natural fit. It was something I knew and understood just from growing up and from working as a volunteer.
I’m at my alma mater now [Bryn Mawr School], which is fun, and just across the street. I’ve been in fundraising for 10 years at this point, with some gaps, like when we adopted our son. Right now I’m helping to manage the school’s capital campaign.
So you and your family are back in Baltimore?
Yes, we moved back to Baltimore 15 years ago, and I love it. We’re in the countryside, but I can get downtown in 20 minutes. We’re able to get to New York, Philadelphia, and DC easily. People drive around with bumper stickers that say, ‘Baltimore: Actually, I like it.’ And it’s true!
You created cards to help families have better conversations around the dinner table. Could you tell me about this new venture?
My husband and I would encourage our four kids to say grace before dinner, and they would always be like, ‘I don’t know what to say.’
And one day I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you could just pick out a card and get ideas for what to say during grace?’ They liked that idea, so I went to Amazon to look around, but there wasn’t anything like that available. So I thought to myself, ‘Why don’t we just make it ourselves?’
We came up with some ideas, and I worked with a designer to create the cards and found a company to produce them. It’s been a fun exercise in learning how to do something totally new from scratch. There’s a learning curve, but it’s not impossible. It shows you that, if you have an idea, you can make it happen.
Your daughter is now attending Duke. Is she enjoying it so far?
Yes! She’s a freshman at Duke, but she and her older sister, who’s at Wake Forest, are on Spring Break now, so they’re home with us. It’s funny, because when I was in college, the last thing I wanted to do was go home! I wanted to go to Mexico or Florida for Spring Break, but my daughters were like, ‘Can we just come home and sleep?’
