Thoughts on Majoring in Environmental Education at Catawba College
by Brittany Parker '09

Hey everyone! For those of you who do not know me, I'm Brittany Parker, a junior here at Catawba College and an Environmental Education major. I am hoping to get my B.A. degree and teach Environmental Science when I graduate. I am from Mt. Ulla, Rowan County — which is the same county Catawba is in so this school isn't too far away from my home.

I live on what used to be a 300–head conventional style dairy farm and is now about 125-head organic dairy farm. I have always been a strong advocate for agriculture and have been very active in FFA, but this drastic change at our family dairy farm has led me to become very interested in the environment. I just recently realized that you have to grow feed crops for the dairy cattle in a certain way in order to produce organic milk. This realization led me to take just one environmental science class here at Catawba and now, I am completely hooked!

Since my major is new here at Catawba, I'll share thoughts on it and different events I'm involved with in my blogs throughout this year. This semester, I am taking one course called Environmental Education Resources 1, and I am really excited about it because it promises many out-of-the-classroom experiences as well as lectures from experts who truly know how our environment works! While the semester promises to be busy, I am excited to learn about a subject that has always intrigued me from people who truly understand current issues.

Brittany welcomes e-mail correspondence from current and prospective members of Catawba's community and can be reached at blparker@catawba.edu.