By: Wyatt Klipa ‘23 MEM
In May, the Class of 2023 completed their degrees and set out to put their learning into practice. Through the summer, recently graduated Master of Forestry, Master of Forest Science, and other forestry-interested students settled into internships, summer experiences, careers, and preparations for future study.
Several graduates elected to remain a part of the New Haven community, working with the Urban Resources Initiative (URI). Jess Jones ‘23 MEM (URI Greenspaces Intern), Joshua De-Anda ‘23 MEM (URI Post-Graduate Associate and GreenSkills High School Program Coordinator, leading youth planting programs), and Michael Freiburger ‘23 MF (URI Post-Graduate Associate and Apprentice Urban Forester) all opted to contribute to community forestry efforts throughout the Elm City.
Five other graduates spent their summer at Yale-Myers Forest as Apprentice Foresters in the Forest Crew program. Lauryn Sherman ‘23 MF, Chomri Khayi ‘23 MF, Fredrick Addai ‘23 MF, Wyatt Klipa ‘23 MEM, and Grace Bachmann ‘23 MF spent the summer living and learning in the forest, contributing to a decades-long legacy of management and practical experience.
The Crew members’ plans extend beyond the summer program. Sherman balanced Forest Crew responsibilities with bar exam preparations. Khayi also spent the summer working for the Tropical Resources Institute developing plant identification resources and illustrations – work that will continue through the fall.
The final three graduating crew members all took one-year Post-Graduate Associate roles with different Yale centers and programs beginning this fall. Addai is working with the Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative (ELTI) on their online certificate program. Bachmann is staying at Yale-Myers to become the new forest manager. Klipa is splitting time between The Forest School’s communications team and the Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program.
Raqib Valli ‘23 MF returned home to Kenya, where he is now working as savanna research lead at The Centre for Ecosystem Restoration of Kenya. He aims to devise and deliver science-based projects linked to core elements of savanna restoration ecology to support community-based restoration efforts.
Cameron McKenzie ‘23 MFS worked as a green and equitable workforce development fellow for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden through the Yale Center for Environmental Justice this summer. McKenzie has also been named a Presidential Management Fellows finalist.
A few graduates are returning to campus to work on Yale School of the Environment academic course offerings this fall. Shaylyn Austin ‘23 MF spent the summer interning with the U.S. Forest Service out of Gold Beach, Oregon. This fall, Austin is part of the teaching team for the much beloved dual courses “Management Plans for Protected Areas” and “Field Skills for Land Stewardship.” Thoko Changufu ‘23 MF is working as a post-graduate associate with The Forest School, coordinating the Yale Forest Forum speaker series among other events.
Over the summer, Isaac Merson ‘23 MEM began a position as a resource assistant at the U.S. Forest Service with their Washington office planning staff. He is working with planners to build institutional knowledge and help the forest service better integrate climate change into land management planning in the National Forest system while supporting work on climate justice in planning.
Emma Broderick ‘23 MF/MBA spent the summer split between Vancouver and New York, working as an intern on the finance and investment team at Blue Forest and as receiving coordinator at the Park Slope Food Coop. This fall, Broderick will move to San Francisco to start a new position on the investment team at Grounded Capital, where she will work on direct investments in land stewardship and regenerative land management practices.
Aaron Troncoso ‘23 MF/JD is now serving as a Heyman Fellow in the White House working with the Climate Policy Office to help implement the President’s domestic climate agenda and coordinate an all-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis.
In May, Emma Grover ‘23 MESc began a role as project associate within TerraCarbon’s agricultural land management team, which helps to develop carbon offset projects to fund nature-based climate solutions on working lands. Grover is supporting the evaluation, design, and implementation of nature-based carbon projects with a primary focus on agroforestry and agricultural soil carbon projects.
Joshua Friedlein ‘23 MF served as a public humanities fellow at the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian & Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago this summer. In this role, Friedlein worked on Indigenous Chicago, a multi-focal and multi-format public history project, guided by a steering committee of tribal officials and Indigenous elders in the Chicago area, with the focus of reinforcing the city of Chicago and the southern Great Lakes as an Indigenous place in the past, present, and future. The project will open as an exhibit at the Newberry in fall 2024.
As the graduating class has taken their first steps into – or back into – the professional world, they bring with them a passion to contributing to a healthier, more just world through the fields of forestry, natural resource management, and beyond.
