MacKenzie recently graduated from University of North Carolina Wilmington in May with a Bachelor of Science in biology. She’s had a passion for animals and the environment since she was young. She would love to use her degree to work in wildlife conservation and is going to be a zookeeper at Plumpton Park Zoo starting in July. This past year she completed a thesis on conservation genetics of red squirrels in the Appalachian sky islands and volunteered with the Cape Fear Bird Observatory to help with their spring migration bird banding. In her free time, she enjoys thrifting, baking, embroidery, and birdwatching/observing wildlife. MacKenzie attended WYSE in 2019 and was a JFA in 2022 and 2023. She is so excited to be coming back as a JFA again, and she can’t wait to help make WYSE 2024 an amazing experience for the delegates this year.