Since graduating from Cornish College, Lara Williamson (CC2016) has been completing her Bachelor of Environmental Science at Deakin University, majoring in Wildlife and Conservation Biology. She has also been involved in a range of climate activism groups and initiatives. Lara shares more about her experiences here.
“After completing my schooling at Cornish in 2016, I jumped straight into an Environmental Science (Wildlife and Conservation Biology) degree at Deakin University. Even as I faced the trials and triumphs of tertiary education and the challenges of adulthood, my commitment to conservation and climate activism were my tethers. I have explored small mammal trapping, radio tracking, dung beetle and frog surveys, hooded plover monitoring, vegetation management (aka lots of weeding!), geology and landscape evolution, pest and weed management, as well as statistics and computer code.
“I also extended my learning overseas. I completed a month of volunteering with Conservation Volunteers New Zealand in November 2018, seeing first-hand the impact invasive mammals are having on native bird populations. In early 2019, I secured a placement working with Earthwatch Australia on verifying data from their ClimateWatch Program – a citizen science website/application that records the relationship between animal/plant sightings and climate change.
“In May, I got involved with Extinction Rebellion (XR) – a social movement to encourage government and corporate action on the climate and ecological emergency. Since then, I have been coordinating an XR Frankston/Bayside group, been appointed to the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Coastal Committee for Mornington and have continued to work casually in retail.
“The past three years out of Cornish have been about finding my place in the world, and I have the Cornish community to thank for all that I have had the courage to achieve.”
This story featured in the Summer 2019/2020 edition of The Difference
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