At school, I founded the Conservation Club and enlisted various speakers from my Costa Rica travels. Using my Punta Mala experience in cleaning beaches and nesting sites, digging and maintaining hatcheries, collecting sea turtle eggs and transporting them for safe hatching and return to the wild, I advocated for stronger environmental protections of these amazing reptiles. I also proposed and designed an agricultural space and apiary as part of my high school chapel’s expansion plan. I became a Junior Docent at the Staten Island Zoo, where I exhibit animals to the public. So far, I have qualified to demonstrate the Everglades Ratsnake and Chuckwalla lizard. During the summer of 2021, I served as an Animal Care and Nutrition Intern with the zoo. At UMass, I am in my second year of working at the Hadley Farm. At its Equine Center, I care for the herd by feeding, watering, and walking the horses, cleaning their stalls, and fitting them with protective equipment. In November 2021, I further explored my interest in equine science by attending the Equine Affaire in Springfield, Massachusetts—one of the largest horse shows in the country. While working and volunteering at the Hadley Farm, I also had the chance to witness lambing and to collect urinalysis samples from the goat herd (for my Anatomy lab class). Given my interests, skills, and experiences, it was no surprise that I chose to major in Animal Science.