This summer, 2016, I tackled an issue important to my local community. Along with eight other high school students, I was given the opportunity to live in and study a section of woods being proposed as a new national monument. I explored the controversy surrounding an issue that was seemingly uncontroversial: can a land-owner donate her land to be preserved for future generations? Many of the local people replied with a firm “No.” After surviving the wilderness and many blistering interviews, it was my job to compile the data from these local sources and spread understanding.

 

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Below is an interview with me speaking about the National Monument on the television show “The Mayor’s Desk.”