Earth Grant Blog

My name is Matthew Jensen. I’m the River Run Network Intern with Watershed Management Group here in Tucson. Every day, I wake up, I go to class, go to work, and live my life. Every day, I drink lots of water because everyone needs water to live.

Q: What’s better than one program that supports diverse students in developing as environmental professionals?

A: THREE programs that support diverse students in their development as environmental professionals, gathered together on a late fall afternoon in Tucson, having a picnic!

Earlier this month, Earth Grant intern Maria Mata Robles traveled to Albuquerque, NM with her Earth Grant internship mentors at Southwest Decision Resources (SDR) for the 2022 Southwest Adaptation Forum (SWAF), an event planned by SDR in collaboration with Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center and several other organizations. She spent three days there, engaging in meaningful conversations about desert adaptation and gaining valuable experiences in conference facilitation.

We're thrilled to have one of last year's student cohort members, Lexis Meza, join our educational team this year as the Earth Grant Program Assistant. As Program Assistant, Lexis is co-facilitating leadership development workshops, managing our social media, and supporting outreach activities.

This fall, we welcome a new Earth Grant cohort of 24 undergraduate students. Cohort members span 18 different majors across 8 departments, with professional ambitions ranging from wildlife conservation and natural resource management to librarianship, activism, environmental policy, urban planning, science communication, water quality, community outreach, and food sovereignty.

The day kicked off with our keynote speaker, Cam Juarez, who is a Park ranger at Saguaro National Park (Tucson) and identifies as a Latino who is physically disabled. Cam runs the Next Generation Ranger program, which specifically recruits young people of color to get into environmental careers.

The Santa Cruz River was once a beauty that connected the residents of Tucson to nature, but now is the biggest trash bin in the county. Sonoran Institute has recognized this and has dedicated their efforts to bring it back to its original beauty, hoping that this lost relationship will return as well.

Recently, a small group of Earth Grant and College of Architecture and Planning (CAPLA) students got the opportunity to go on a group hike up to Rock Spring in Saguaro National Park, East. This is a place where the saguaros, sacred plants to the Tohono O’odham tribe, grow big and tall.

“My father always encouraged my sister and I to be ‘global citizens,’” says Earth Grant student and Engineering sophomore Ani Melichar. Through Earth Grant, Ani is working with people from all over the world, by supporting the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s New Roots program, an initiative to support recent refugees to Tucson in gardening, food production, nutrition, and generating revenue through farmers’ markets.

Earth Grant student Paloma Martinez spends every Tuesday morning at Midtown Farm, in the Barrio Centro neighborhood of Tucson. Working alongside farm managers Jacob Robles and Brandon Alexander, Paloma walks the produce rows at the farm to see what vegetables are ready for harvest.