A unique opportunity is opening for students at the University of Connecticut for the spring 2025 semester. NRE 1250, Community Engagement for Environmental Action, is a 1-credit course being offered that coincides with exciting mentorship opportunities.
a week in the summer and consisted of a variety of field-based activities in different environmental fields. Photo credit UConn NRCA
Dr. Laura Cisneros, associate UConn extension professor and director of the Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA), will be teaching the course. “The course was designed to cover concepts and approaches needed to be a leader and mentor to diverse teens carrying out environmental action projects that are addressing socio-environmental or environmental justice challenges within their communities,” said Cisneros.
“In the course we explore how to pull in and apply authentic community engagement principles, cultural sustaining education approaches and trauma informed mentorship to support inclusive and equitable community-based environmental action,” Cisneros said when asked about the design of the course.
At the conclusion of the course, students will have the unique opportunity to apply for a mentorship position known as being a Difference Maker Mentor (DMM), for one of the NRCA’s programs, the Conservation Ambassador Program (CAP). CAP is a nine-month program for high school students that begins with a week-long summer field experience at the Storrs campus, where students are immersed in hands-on opportunities in a variety of environmental fields including forestry, wildlife, fisheries and water quality.
After the conclusion of the field experience, the high school participants work with DMMs, graduate mentors and local community partners in developing meaningful community environmental action projects that are presented at the end of the program at the Youth in STEM: A Leadership & Changemaker Summit at the Connecticut Science Center. From invasive species removal to community garden cultivation, student projects are immensely diverse in the environmental, socio-environmental and environmental justice issues they take on.
“Back in 2022, I launched our Difference Maker Mentor positions to intentionally bring more representation into our NRCA Conservation Ambassador teaching staff and leadership,” said Cisneros. “One goal was to provide our teen participants with near-peer mentors and role models that have shared identities. Another goal was to eventually provide pathway programming to our participants to continue in environmental leadership positions as undergrad Difference Maker Mentors. We are in our third year and already seeing the positive impact on our participants.”
Current DMM Julianna Service, a leadership and public management graduate student in the UConn School of Public Policy, offered her insight as to way she took on the opportunity.
“I became a Difference Maker Mentor to immerse myself in a more environmentally conscious community of people,” she said. “Now, being a DMM makes me super excited to bring a different, health-based perspective to the program, learn more about the environment and be a part of guiding my student mentees through their own socio-environmental community intervention projects.”
The NRCA has provided empowering opportunities for students, mentors and staff alike. “Teaching this course and addition of Difference Maker Mentors has been equally empowering for me, as I am continually learning alongside the DMMs as we explore innovative ways to integrate the approaches taught in the course into our programs and community efforts,” Cisneros said.
If you’re interested in being part of environmental change, community-based environmental action and mentorship, consider registering for NRE 1250, Community Engagement for Environmental Action.