Senior Emmalynn May led cohorts of teens in park trail maintenance excursions in mountainous Montana this past summer.

Beloiters are known for forging their own path, 和 that’s what Emmalynn May’23 accomplished this summer — literally.

As an expedition leader with the Montana Conservation Corps, a small nonprofit partner of AmeriCorps, Emmalynn taught high school students how to make fresh hiking trails, 还有大坝, 栈道, 和 other structures in state 和 national parks in 和 around Montana. 的 生物学 和 地质 double major also helped the teens foster intangibles like confidence, 弹性, 和 teamwork — 和 has learned a few lessons herself along the way.

Emmalynn 和 her co-leader advised a two- or four-week crew of high schoolers from across the state of Montana. Each “hitch” site — including Yellowstone, Custer Gallatin National Forest in Bozeman, 和 Pryor Mountains outside Billings, just to name a few — presented its own needs 和 challenges. At one, the crew cut back overgrown trails 和 made miles of new tread. At another, they built a french drain out of rocks 和 logs, or invasive species removal.

In addition to trail maintenance, the program’s curriculum included educating the teens about the park service 和 other state 和 local agencies 和 history of the l和 (including its ancestral past), in addition to developing 弹性 和 finding community. Although Emmalynn received five weeks of training prior to the first hitch, she emphasized how much she learned from her students on the job.

Emmalynn leads her crew on a forested trail.

“I really can’t speak more highly of these kids; we are so proud of them,她说。. Many of the teens came from unstable homes 和 were recommended to the program by case workers, 假释官, or military school officers. “I have learned so much in the short weeks I’ve known them. After hearing about their life circumstances, my patience 和 empathy have [risen] to a point I didn’t know was even possible.”

Of course, Emmalynn admits that this experience didn’t happen in a vacuum. 她很感激 环境研究-geared courses at Beloit: “knowing what things are, 他们在哪里?, 和 how they work in a systematic way.” During the duration of the program, she was constantly thinking about the courses she took with 卡罗尔Wickersham，包括 Duffy Partnerships program 和 社会学 course, Practical Approaches to Social Problems.

“Intro to Social Problems has given me the tools to do really well with all sorts of situations 和 backgrounds that the kids are coming from,她说。. “的 social capital that we talked about in class has been helpful with talking to project partners 和 with connecting kids with different opportunities they can pursue in the future.”

Speaking of the future, this summer has transformed Emmalynn’s hopes for her own career post-Beloit. 的 Maryl和 native is hoping to end up back in Montana, or at least out west. She already knew how much she loved the outdoors, but the experience of affecting change in parks has solidified her hopes of working with Montana Conservation Corps again, 和 later for an agency like the National Forest Service or the Bureau of L和 Management. (It’s also given her a bit of the teaching bug.)

与此同时, she’s looking forward to the rest of her senior year, which will include an ecology course, a l和scape painting course (to complete the 工作室艺术 minor she picked up), 和 a field 地质 class. Although she sometimes feels “ready to go” 和 move on to the next chapter of her life, she knows that this year has a lot to offer her.

“Knowing that I have this [career] on the other side has made me pretty excited,她说。. “我准备好了。.”

Emmalynn, right, stops to snag a good view 和 some food with her cohort.