Hi! My name is Michele Chavez. I have a passion for bicycling. Cycling is something we can do to replace car trips, reduce CO2 emissions, and save the planet.
My dream is to work in bicycle advocacy, making where I live more bicycle friendly, so I went back to school through Empowered UCLA Extension in the Global Sustainability Certificate Program. I am in the 3rd quarter taking Principles of Sustainability 3: Social Dimension, Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, and Sustainability Ethics.
But I've run out of money. I need $1235 tuition for the 4th and final quarter, which includes Renewable Energy Technologies, Environmental Laws & Institutions, and Sustainability Roadmap: Developing Your Business Action Plan.
These people believe I will do great things when I complete the program.
Jennifer Klausner, LACBC:
"Michele is ready to hit the ground running and apply learnings from her coursework in global sustainability to her ongoing work as a bicycle advocate. She knows how to tap her real-world connections and use her network to create real change in a part of Los Angeles County that needs more critical thinkers like her! Michele cannot help being a force for healthy lifestyles and sustainable practices - she's a role model and leader without even trying - but this course of study is giving her the structural elements to create a career doing this important work."
Annie Schmidt, UCLA Extension Global Sustainability Student:
"Michele is passionate about bike ridership advocacy. She produced a well researched and presented project on not only making a major thoroughfare in her hometown more bike friendly, but also more environmentally sustainable and aesthetically pleasing. In addition, I was impressed with Michele's capacity to help classmates select the proper bike for their purposes. She has a command of bicycle technologies available, where to get them, what one can expect by selecting those particular bikes and how much one can expect to pay for each. Michele's passion for bicycling is contagious and I believe her enthusiasm will contribute to her stated goal of expanding her bicycle advocacy. "
Dara Rossoff Powell:
"Michele and I are students in the Global Sustainability Program through Empowered UCLA Extension. She brings a unique and important perspective to the group learning process. I am impressed by her focus on the sustainability aspects of transportation and her goal of creating more bicycle friendly cities. Last quarter her final project showcased a professional PowerPoint program and a variety of innovative ideas related to her hometown. I was so impressed by the presentation I suggested that she bring it to the City Council. I hope that Michele will be able to complete the program, I believe that she will use the education she receives in her community. She is an energetic and driven individual and I am sure her contributions to a more sustainable world will be many.
Lucrecia Bermúdez:
"I met Michele through the UCLA Global Sustainability Graduate Program. We are classmates. I am sure Michele is eager, as I am, to engage again in the thoughtful, open and honest group conversations, as we share and discuss the issues that affect us all, in this unsustainable world of us. We come together, learn from each other and envision ways to mitigate the decimation of the environment.
It is precisely because of Michele, that I have retaken riding the bicycle. She doesn't know this. In our first Principles of Sustainability class, we were given the task to develop and present to class, a Sustainable Project. Michele, as a true bicyclist, involved in advocacy and a member of the Bicycle Community in Los Angeles, proposed a plan to transform a long, dry and hostile main traffic street, which she often uses, into an attractive, pleasant and inviting-to-pedestrians strip, where space becomes truly shared. It spoke volumes of the freedom she enjoys when riding her bike.
Hope to see her in the next class."
"Michele and I are both studying towards a Global Sustainability Certificate from Empowered -UCLA Extension. I got to know her well during our final group project. Her contribution to the project was invaluable and her discussions always bring to light the importance of sustainability. She is extremely passionate about bicycling advocacy which she presented beautifully in her Principles of Sustainability course project through a power point presentation. The presentation reflected her innovative ideas to promote cycling in her city. Her answers to questions and responses to posts are always articulately written. Michele is extremely hardworking and I believe the completion of this certificate will help further Michele's dream of a sustainable planet."Please Help Me Save the Planet!
