• Environmental Studies (B.A.)
• Minors: Entrepreneurship and Health, Medicine, and Society 

• Southside Permaculture Park 

• homemade lip scrub business (12 years old)
• Pose: posture support for sedentary workers — Entrepreneurship class

• Southside Permaculture Park 

(Formal and Informal)

• Urban Patch To Oasis
• Fresh Produce Fridge Opens For Campus Community

(at Lehigh and Beyond)

• CAS Expo 
• Mountaintop Summer Research Expo
• Intro To Public Health Case Study Presentation
• CINQ presentations

External Recognition

• Teufel Family Vocal Arts Scholar 
• Bear Sebastian Vocal Scholar 
• Environmental Fellowship Grant
• President of High School Choir 
• President of French Honors Society 
• Music Honor Society
• English Honor Society 
• National Honor Society 

(and Lessons Learned)

• Consistent communication: being a part of a student-led team, it is vital to constantly communicate with your peers to ensure “operation” of the project is running smoothly. For the SSPP, a lot of the work we needed to do both on and off-site required persistent communication. It helped us to all better learn about the project, as well as naturally structured our individual roles. 

(and Lessons Learned)

• Our biggest conflict was the misunderstanding between ourselves and our faculty advisors this Fall. They felt as though we were not making much headway in the project, looking for mostly visual changes on-site. With that, we sent over a thorough document of all of the work we had done both on and off-site as well as work that was in progress. This was rather frustrating for us at first because so much of the work we focused on was restructuring the nature of our project and increasing our community relations. We did, however, satisfy the visual demands with lots of on-site work and maintenance throughout the year. 

(and Lessons Learned) 

• Throughout the duration of the project, I felt as though I quickly fell into the leadership role of handling and establishing on-site park projects. Throughout the year, I spent a lot of time studying permaculture through different literary resources and learning from trial & error on-site. My strong-suit was knowing how to properly take care of the plants and the physical landscape. I would tell others what to do and what projects we could take on to improve the overall health of our park. With that, I was also responsible for the finances of the project, managing our budget and figuring out appropriate amounts we could delegate to different projects across the park. With all of this, I learned communication (especially when facing challenges/misunderstandings), how to direct & teach others, patience, time management, and financial responsibility.

• Our project is the definition of chaos and uncertainty. Working with an urban environment, there are CONSTANTLY new things to deal with/ maintain. The park presented us with barriers, whether it be the soil health, broken/lost tools, smokey air, seeds not growing, our greenhouse failing, ever-changing weather patterns, or a random plant deciding to aggressively take over a certain spot. We constantly had to adjust our approach to maintaining the space. This really pushed our team to communicate a lot about our plans and be ready to always have a back up plan/ come up with ways to keep ourselves busy when something stands in our way (especially true when it was smokey out). 

• A personally challenging experience has been overcoming my fear of failing. I hate making mistakes and the SSPP project, especially in the beginning, had invited me to truly challenge that part of me. I made lots of mistakes, not knowing how to properly care for an entire landscape and dozens of different plant species. Through my mistakes, I have improved my attention to detail and organization skills. I have also learned that it is truly okay to make mistakes because eventually you will find your flow and make it right. 

• The SSPP project is rooted in honoring and immersing yourself in other cultures. Permaculture in itself utilizes Indigenous knowledge to create sustainable systems. Working within Southside Bethlehem has encouraged us to learn about the diverse community, considering the large latino population. From this, we planted different crops that are used in latin cuisine (ex: spicy peppers) for Southside residents to use, as well as have different plaques and posts translated both on-site and virtually. 

• My IF work is highly relevant to my major. As an Environmental Studies major, being able to work on a project that focused on taking care of the local environment, while also considering local policy, urban planning, etc. truly touched upon every aspect of my studies and what I’ve learned thus far. 

• After working on the project over the summer at Mountaintop, my confidence in being able to speak about the project and our impact transformed from when I first presented the project in the spring. Over the summer, I felt as though I truly got my hands dirty and got to dedicate my full self to bettering the local community. I was able to present on my own with confidence at the CAS expo, as well as speak with local community members casually and informatively with much more confidence and passion. Seeing others interested in the progression of this space has been a huge boost for me and my motivation throughout this program. 

• A recent moment where I felt as if I were making the future was when I took over the production of the park’s archway. Although we have not yet completed the construction and do not have a set date for installation, the handling of picking the design, managing finances, scheduling meeting times, and constructing the physical archway has made me beyond excited for the future aesthetic of the SSPP. This is a hefty process, but I can truly imagine the soon-to-be beautiful entryway at the park. 

• The fuel to my fire is when I receive positive feedback from the people I am directly trying to impact. Going to community meetings/ hearing from students that they are so excited for the state of the park and project as a whole made me feel like I was truly doing something beneficial. Also, when we brought plentiful harvests to the Bethlehem Farmers’ Market, Rock & Grow Ice House event, and HWC fridge, we received direct positive feedback and sincere gratitude for our efforts. This has made me so incredibly happy and proud of our project and our growth over the year.