We’re back with another themed week on the site: Career Week. This semester, Her Campus FSU has created themed weeks dedicated to exclusive content we believe all of our readers should have access to. Keep up on the site for the next few days as we cover everything from what NOT to put on your resume to a Q&A with an RMPD major currently interning at ELLE magazine in NYC. This week definitely won’t be filled with the cliché career advice you’re always hearing (take for instance there’s even a piece on how to deal with rejection). Don’t miss out!
Name: Alyssa Schubert
Year: Sophomore
Major: Environmental Science
Hometown: Crawfordville, FL
Photo By: Lauren Alsina
Her Campus (HC): What can you tell me about your internship with NASA this summer?
Alyssa Schubert (AS): It’s at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and it is a sustainability internship. The basic description includes supporting current NASA Johnson Space Center sustainability initiatives (like reducing water and energy consumption), leading Green Team competitions (which are competitions that we hold for the public to create awareness about different ways to be environmentally conscious), contributing to a monthly newsletter about opportunities around town and overall helping to improve Johnson Space Center’s community outreach about sustainability! Hopefully, I’ll be able to assist with their “sustainability engagement strategy.”
HC: What made you interested in sustainability and the environment?
AS: I was always kind of into nature when I was younger, and then for most of high school, I was dead set on psychology, but still doing environmental service. During my senior year of high school, I took AP Environmental Science and it was like a switch flipped on in my brain. I knew immediately that it was what I wanted to do. Particularly reading about the Love Canal incident (New York officials built a neighborhood over a canal filled with toxic waste and the children born there had heart defects, but the health officials were like, “no, I don’t think the toxic sludge has anything to do with it”) really made me think, “Wow, I need to do this with my life.”
HC: What is your ideal career in the environmental field?
AS: I would definitely like to be an environmental engineer, and I’m really interested in water. I feel like water is a basic right, so I’d be happy either ensuring that water quality is where it needs to be, or working to get water access where it isn’t currently easily accessible. I feel like ideally, my job should eventually be obsolete because if we’re not needed, it means we’ve already done our job.
HC: How can students get involved in sustainability on campus and in the Tallahassee area?
AS: There is a huge network within Sustainable Campus that has a whole host of organizations and events under it. Some of those include: Take Back the Tap, Garnet and Gold Goes Green and the Food Recovery Network. I would encourage students to reach out to Elizabeth Swiman or Kristen Lee. There’s also the Environmental Service Program that does a lot of interesting activities on the weekends (like butterfly tagging or coastal cleanups).
Around Tallahassee, there is another network called Sustainable Tallahassee. Outreach in the Center for Leadership and Social Change is also a great way to get involved! There are places you can volunteer at such as Rethink Energy Florida, a nonprofit organization working towards cleaner energy, or iGrow, a sustainable farming organization. I am also a big advocate for doing several small and easy things in your life (i.e. recycling, being conscious of how much plastic or disposable things you use, not using a straw at a restaurant, using a reusable water bottle, composting, etc.) because those small things can add up to make a larger impact!
If you’d like to learn more about Sustainable Campus, its organizations or how to get involved feel free to click here!