Jillian is a Maine local having grown up in Hope and spent much of her time year-round sailing on, swimming in, and exploring Penobscot Bay. She is drawn to the role of storytelling in its ability to capture small, seemingly insignificant moments that can amplify people’s individual, unique perspectives on the world. Her work with Meals and Wheels recipients in the Midcoast area during a senior high school project, and with Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, Massachusetts in the Pacific islands are experiences in which she has further realized how written and oral communication can portray and preserve identities and ways of life that are threatened. She is eager to combine her curiosity about oral and poetic stories with her interest in marine science and climate change to help communicate and preserve these perspectives on the environment. She has long been inspired by Compass Light’s use of visual storytelling in the field of climate change to capture people’s relationships with and awareness of the natural world. Jillian is a senior at Bowdoin College, majoring in Biology and minoring in Religion, and hopes to continue working in the field of environmental justice and scientific and intercultural communication.