Emma Johnston

Manatee High School
Bradenton, FL

Email: [email protected]

Emma Johnston is a sophomore at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida. She attended WYSE in the summer of 2016 and had one of the best experiences of her life. She was provided with insight about the environment and was introduced to a community of people who shared her passion for the environment. Emma learned and laughed so much during the summit and is so thankful for all of her newfound WYSE experiences. She loves science, especially biology and environmental science. She is a part of her high school’s marching band and drumline and is currently an active member in Key Club, a student-led volunteer organization. She is also in Mu Alpha Theta, a math honor society and tutoring program, and Science National Honor Society. Emma is very excited to contribute to the WYSE advisory board this year!

Eva Humphreys

Jefferson-Morgan High School
Jefferson, PA

Email: [email protected]

Eva Humphreys is a senior honors student at Jefferson-Morgan Jr./Sr. High School in Jefferson, Pennsylvania. She spends her time doing many after-school activities, including marching band, envirothon, Science Olympiad, drama club, and National Honor Society. In her free time, Eva plays instruments, writes, and spends time with loved ones. She plans to study Marine Biology or Zoology after graduation.

Anna Holdosh

Visitation Academy
St. Louis, MO

Email: [email protected]

Anna Holdosh is a senior at Visitation Academy in St Louis, Missouri. She is currently working on a project through her school to raise awareness on the issue of the West Lake Landfill. Anna heard about this issue while she was at the WYSE conference in 2016. She hopes that through this she can make people more aware and involved in order for change to start to happen. She enjoys playing golf, racquetball, and yarn ball with her 2 beautiful cats. Anna is very excited about her position on the Advisory Board for #WYSE2017 and hopes that she can make it the best conference yet. If you want to know more about her, feel free to try to find her on instagram or check out her blog from her WYSE experience at Turtle Talk. She definitely recommends WYSE to anyone even remotely considering an Environmental career in the future because of the opportunity to able to hear experts in different fields talk and the ability to make valuable connections that you can use in the future!

Emma Hasek

Brownsburg High School
Brownsburg, IN

Email: [email protected]

Emma Hasek is an alumna from the 2016 Washington Youth Summit on the Environment. Her participation in the program reflects her deep appreciation for the environment and her desire to pursue a career in an environmental field, specifically climatology. She is currently attending Brownsburg High School in Brownsburg, IN as a senior. Emma is an active section leader in both her high school marching band and symphony orchestra, but finds time to also take part in the National Honor Society and run her school’s Environmental club. She enjoys helping people and hopes that her future work in the environmental fields will create a difference in the lives of others.

Alyssa Evringham

Winslow Township High School
Sicklerville, NJ

Email: [email protected]

Alyssa Evringham is a student at Winslow High School in Sicklerville, New Jersey. She is from Sicklerville, New Jersey. She attended the Washington Youth Summit on the Environment in 2016. Alyssa decided to go to WYSE because she has always loved the environment and wanted to be a marine biologist after college. WYSE was an incredible experience for her and she cannot wait to share this experience with others.

Jason Dallman

Castle View High School
Castle Rock, CO

Email: [email protected]

Hi, my name is Jason Dallman I am from Colorado in a town called Sedalia, and I also live on a farm. I am big into the environment, it is all around me. I have two mules and two dogs. My mom is an environmental teacher at my school.

Katherine-Aria Close

Our Lady of Good Counsel
Olney, MD

Email: [email protected]

Katherine-Aria “Kat” Close is a junior at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Maryland and is in the IB program. She has a love of animals, particularly horses, which has extended to caring about the loss of habitats and a concern for the overall health of our planet. In middle school, she was a member of the school’s Green Club. Her 8th grade social studies class focused on human interactions with the environment and the interrelation between human populations and geography. Currently, Kat is taking an interdisciplinary environmental science class which she finds engaging. A few times this year, she is responsible for recycling her high school’s paper. In her free time, Katherine loves art and creative writing. She is Co-President of her school’s Creative Writing Club and Vice President of the school’s National Art Honors Society, which she helped establish. Her weekends are spent horse riding and helping to care for the horses of the Montgomery County Mounted Unit of the National Capital Area Park Police. Here her love of horses and the environment are merged. Kat also enjoys spending time with her friends and her family; she lives with her parents, sister, and two cats in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Savannah Churlik

Walker Valley High School
Cleveland, TN

Email: [email protected]

Savannah Churlik is a senior at Walker Valley High School in Cleveland, TN and a WYSE 2016 alumna. She is an officer in her school’s FFA chapter, a member of STEM leadership team, and on the executive committee for her school’s drama club. She is also the backstage manager for the drama club’s theatrical productions. Savannah is on a competitive swim league where she spends her summers mentoring the younger swimmers. Savannah has dreams of going to North Carolina State University after graduation to pursue a degree in Veterinary Medicine, in hopes of becoming a veterinarian at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

Alonso Aguirre, PhD, DMV

Associate Professor

Dr. Alonso Aguirre heads a program of collaborative research that focuses on the ecology of wildlife disease and the links to human health and conservation of biodiversity. His research has been instrumental in revealing the impact of emerging diseases of marine wildlife populations. Dr. Aguirre’s international experience brings applied solutions to ecological health issues accomplished through trans-disciplinary teams, innovative research, scientific excellence, and long-term monitoring of sentinel species. Dr. Aguirre served as the Executive Director of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation and Director of the Mason Center for Conservation Studies.

He has authored three books, published over 160 professional papers, monographs and scientific reports, and advised government agency and NGO leaders of several countries in the Americas, Southeast Asia and Western Europe. He currently serves as co-editor of EcoHealth, Journal of Wildlife Diseases and European Journal of Wildlife Research.