Monica Starr

Growing up in the Midwest, my first exposure to the beach was our yearly summer vacations to Florida. This was what I looked forward to the most and this is what sparked my interest in environmental science. 

My undergraduate degree was in marine biology and this is truly where my interest area is. During my undergraduate schooling, I had been involved in multiple organizations and projects that worked in outreach programs to get the community more involved and interested in environmental science.

After graduating, I applied and became an Environmental Peace Corps volunteer. I lived in Paraguay for seven months and worked with diverse populations in order to emphasize the importance of environmental education. Being in a country that only spoke Spanish, I was able to use my language skills to communicate with teachers in Paraguay to come up with lesson plans based around environmental education.

In the future, I hope to use my passion for the environment with legislation and policy. I am currently working on my masters degree at the University of South Florida studying global sustainability with an emphasis in sustainable policy.  

Monica Starr is an intern with Ecology Florida, serving as the Public Communications Facilitator for Ecology Florida News. Monica is a graduate student at the University of South Florida studying Global Sustainability.