Green Careers, Women Leaders: Teaching Students to ‘Flex Their Leadership Muscles’

High school students from across Greater New Haven visited Yale F&ES on April 2 for the fourth “Green Careers, Women Leaders,” an annual event in which F&ES students share leadership skills with young women from across the region and showcase the variety of environmental career paths available to them.
 
Co-hosted by the F&ES group EQUID (Equity, Inclusion, Diversity), this year’s event welcomed students from 13 high schools.
 
“The day is filled with a variety of activities: leadership training, mentorship between the students and the F&ES community, career panels with professionals, and a chance for the girls to network with other peers,” said Jessica Leung ’17 M.E.M., who led the event. “While students of all backgrounds are welcome, we specifically wanted to target urban schools and minorities.”
 
Individual sessions during the day included tours of Kroon Hall and the Yale Farm, an exercise in environmental writing, and discussions about green architecture and environmental justice. Students also learned about different fields of environmental research, why current F&ES and Yale College students and faculty decided to study the environment, and how young women can “flex their leadership muscles.”