Tell us something about who you are, where you live, and your profession/where you study:
Hi! My name is Jolee, and I am a high school student in Cobb County Georgia. I am in the STEM pathway at my school, and I hope to one day have a career where I get to go outside and be with nature.
What do you most value about spending time in the outdoors? I value the time I get to reflect on myself, and how I fit into the world. Am I important to the health of the green life around me? Will I leave a lasting impact on these forests for generation to come? These are hard questions to ponder, but being outside and in sync with nature can help me answer them. Seeing into the lives of the 6 million other species on this planet gets my mind into a rhythm. Watching the squirrels flit from place to place, letting the breeze move me among the swaying trees. These things help me reflect on the past. The forest made it through the past, and it will make it through the future if we can be stewards and help it out.
What is your intention or focus for outdoor recreation and/or stewardship? My focus is to get my peers interested in camping, hiking, and volunteering in local state parks and the Appalachian Trail! My goal is to inspire the upcoming generation to develop a love for nature now so they can help protect and restore these forests when they are older. I am a proud NextGen forest ambassador; meaning I attended the youth summit at Len Foote Hike Inn and the preparation for it April 4-7, 2019. I pledged to dedicate 20 hours (and more) to be steward for the forest. I want to share this experience and use it to reach my goal!
