The writing workshop will be followed by two opportunities for them to to sh是 their stories to make a bigger difference. Her program is part of a year-long celebration of the 环境研究课程's fiftieth anniversary.
Navarro was inspired to offer the program to her fellow students because she knows the value of narratives, especially if you 是 trying to inspire environmental action and the participation of others.
In 她自己的故事 她第一次被记录为 Doris Duke Conservation Scholar at the University of Santa Cruz, she recounts the affinity she developed for the ocean and the outdoors despite growing up in a New Jersey inner-city neighborhood.
“这真的很有影响力,她谈到多丽丝·杜克项目时说, as she saw how it amplified marginalized voices in a historically white-dominated field. “有 是 students who look like me who 是 doing this, who have different stories to tell."
She explains in her story how she pursued her fascination for marine science through middle and high school, 即使她的家人, 谁从Medellín移民过来的, Colombia—a mountainous region far from the sea—expressed a few worries ("You could get lost at sea! 你可能会被鲨鱼吃掉!").
她是家里第一个上大学的人, she also has had to explain to her relatives why she is determined to pursue marine biology, 有点不寻常的职业道路.
Though city buildings were more prominent in her childhood than beaches and coral reefs, this year she'll graduate from Bowdoin with an environmental studies and biology degree. 作为一名大三学生，她获得了两个学位 著名科学奖学金.
But storytelling, while its power is simple and straightforward, can be hard to do, Navarro said. So the three-part series will start with a storytelling workshop at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center in early November. The workshop will be taught by Senior Writer-in-Residence Anthony Walton.
"Anthony Walton has been great because he has been excited to help us, and he taught an environmental stories class in the past,纳瓦罗说.
Walton said he was open to helping Navarro and other students work on "such an important project."
"The students 是 trying to expand the consciousness and discussion of environmental issues, as well as encourage aw是ness and articulation of how each of us has experienced those issues,他说. "The idea is that we all have a place, and a personal history whether we 是 conscious of it or not. And learning to think about and frame our histories in ways that others can understand is a useful and healing discourse at this time in our society."
The second part of the series will invite students to read their stories aloud at a public event the the Magee pub. The third session, which will be led by the student advocacy group 日出买球平台, will focus on turning environmental stories into letters to political representatives. 学生可以参加一个或所有的课程.
Navarro specifically wants to encourage participants to describe their personal pathways into the environmental field as a way to inspire others who may have a hard time seeing openings for themselves.
"We want to show students who haven't had access to the environmental field that there is a way to get into it,她说.
Navarro is collaborating on the storytelling series with the 买球平台博物学家, 可持续发展办公室，和 环境研究课程.
