Environmental Science Study Abroad in Australia

Hi! my name is Hailey Miller, and I’ve recently been accepted to a summer program in Australia to further my studies in Environmental Science. I’m raising funds to offset the non-academic costs associated with this opportunity. Please read below and, if you are moved to help, know how much I appreciate the support.

A little about me. I’ve always been conscious about my place in the world. In elementary, middle, and high school I was involved in various activities and leadership positions that taught me how the world works. The environment is something I became increasingly interested in and how my daily actions affect the natural world around me. Having had chances to do hands-on environmental work through Girl Scouts, Mustard Seed missionary ministries, and quarantine sparked the idea that I wanted to study how the natural world can be conserved in such an industrial and continually advancing social world.

I’ve begun to foster and grow my passion for finding solutions to these environmental challenges in college. I’ve sought to balance my daily activities as a full-time student with the principles of being a good steward to the planet. To me, this means things like buying only what is needed for a week’s meals from local grocery stores, reusing and recycling to offset the disposable culture of college, and studying the relationship between humanity and the environment in my classes. I’ve been a vegetarian for the last 12 years. Beginning at a naive age for no real apparent reason, which I have since learned aligns with my beliefs and has taught me the difference between not eating meat and living/eating sustainably. I have rooted my education and life in environmental study, and the opportunity to go attend this program is something incomparable for my education. In high school, I had the opportunity to study coral bleaching and became obsessed with solutions to the problem. Marrying this passion with the first-hand study of an environmental wonder, the Great Barrier Reef, is truly once in a lifetime opportunity.

Finally, I’m the proud daughter of a Spanish mother and American father. Both sides of my family believe that education, like the air we need to breathe and water we need to live, is an integral part of life. They have pushed me to give school every ounce of my effort, which has instilled in me a true passion for the applicability of what I have learned. My parents are covering all the academic costs of the study abroad program, but I will need to cover all the extra fees.

Thank you so much for all of your love and support. I am truly humbled.