Service

February 3, 2026 In Service, Special Projects

Conservation Action in Every Season: It Starts with Seeds

Throughout the course of my Fellowship, I’ve found that the most engaging and fulfilling lessons and public programs are the ones where students or participants can have a hands-on, positive impact on their surrounding environment. Whether it’s making their own native seed balls or tending a garden, directly contributing to restoring ecosystems reinforces in-class education and allows participants to more deeply connect with nature.

Instead of dreading winter, I now see it as an opportunity—the chance to step back and call on students and communities to imagine what a more vibrant, healthier ecosystem could look like.

So, when I began the planning process for this year’s lessons and public programs, I was struck with a problem as old as the sun’s rotation around the Earth: the winter. For 3-4 months every year, the vibrant cycles of life go dormant. Outdoor activities, let alone hands-on stewardship, are simply not practical. How could I still engage students and program audiences in activities that directly improve the environment?

I had to take inspiration from those same natural cycles. Many native seeds, the kinds most beneficial to native birds, insects, and wildlife, need to go through a months-long period of freezing in order to germinate come springtime. If I could find a way to engage students and event attendees in activities that highlight and nurture this part of the seed’s growth cycle, I could provide opportunities for hands-on environmental restoration all winter long.

It started in the fall when native plants began to dry out and drop their seeds. I planned a lesson at two partner schools, where we learned about the growth cycle by identifying these plants in the pollinator gardens we had planted outside their schools during the previous spring, and collecting some of their seeds.

I also planned an event in my Nature Journaling series, where participants used their journals to explore and document which native flowers in our Pollinator Meadow were at the end of their growth cycle, and learned how to harvest and save their seeds for future plantings at the Discovery Center.

These events were great for the fall, but soon the winter weather took outdoor activities off the table entirely. Luckily, I could use these native seeds’ natural need for the cold to lead students and event attendees through the process of starting these seeds in plastic milk jugs and placing them outside to germinate. The milk jug acts as a sort of green house to keep seeds moist. Using this method, we could start seeds as early as January for the following spring.

With this inspiration, reached out to Audubon-Mid Atlantic’s Delaware River Watershed team—our resident experts on native plants and conservation. Together, we planned a series of seed-focused events at the Discovery Center where the “Seed Stewards” (as I’ve dubbed event participants) guide native seeds through their entire growth cycle: from seed packet filling, to seed starting, to planting.

We had our first event on Saturday, January 10th, where the Seed Stewards prepared nearly 250 packets of native seeds to be distributed through our Native Seed Library where visitors can plant them in their own neighborhoods. There were so many people excited to join, that we had to increase maximum registration from 20 to 30 and even then, a few people ended up on the wait list. I’m looking forward to our next event where the Seed Stewards will learn how to use the milk jug method to start their own native seedlings to take home.

In addition to this, the milk jug method is a great way to engage students in hands-on stewardship no matter the weather. I recently started some native seeds this way with the Garden Club at Edward Gideon School.The students were excited to choose the type of native seeds they would grow and have their own jug to take care of. In addition to labeling her jug with the name of the seed inside, one student, an 8th grader named Kyaira, decorated her jug with floral designs and vowed to check on it every day.

These seedlings will be planted in their pollinator garden during club meetings and worknights this spring—further increasing students’ sense of responsibility to and belonging within the natural environment around them.

Through the promotion of native seeds and plants, these lessons and events engage students and attendees in the process of expanding biodiversity and restoring native habitats in their own neighborhoods—no matter the weather.

Instead of dreading winter, I now see it as an opportunity—the chance to take a step back and call on students and communities to collectively imagine what a more vibrant, healthy ecosystem could look like for all the birds, insects, wildlife, and people that call it home. This all starts with a simple seed.

Julie Kleaver

Julie (she/her) is the FAO Schwarz Fellow at Audubon Mid-Atlantic in Philadelphia.

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January 27, 2026 In Alumni, Mentorship, Service, Social Impact

Building a Career Through Service, Strategy, and Mentorship: The Unique Value of the FAO Schwarz Fellowship

A cornerstone of the FAO Schwarz Fellowship is the combination of direct service work, strategic projects, and mentorship. Looking back on my Fellowship experience years later, I have reflected on how these key elements have had a positive impact on my career.

I currently work at uAspire, an organization focused on college affordability and financial aid utilizing multiple approaches: advising students, training practitioners, advocating for policy changes, and creating custom solutions through consulting projects.

As a Fellow, my direct service work was advising students on college and financial aid. My strategic project work included supporting other areas of the organization: I did research about changing financial aid policies, supported with grant writing, and helped develop new trainings to expand the knowledge of my fellow advisors.

My career trajectory at uAspire started with my FAO Schwarz Fellowship, and progressed into program and people management, followed by data and curriculum management, and now, managing evaluation and learning. The Fellowship prepared me for the various roles I’ve held at uAspire over the last 10 years by:

1. Providing a positive environment for a “yes” mentality

Fellowship roles sometimes fill the space in a nonprofit of the “I wish we had time to take on this important new work” stream of work. This means you can really thrive if you’re a person who likes to say “yes, how can I help with that?”. The FAO Schwarz Fellowship helped me build the confidence to lead projects and identify the opportunities to take a project even further.

This mentality led me to want to learn more about data and Salesforce in my early roles at uAspire when I saw opportunities to improve the program for students through data/technology. Building my data skills early positioned me well to take on my Director of Data & Impact role and my current role as Senior Director of Learning & Evaluation.

2. Grounding my perspective in direct service work

While overseeing uAspire’s advising curriculum, I spearheaded the founding of the organization’s first-ever Student Advisory Group. My experience as an advisor doing direct service work helped spark the idea to start this group; I knew firsthand how students would have great ideas about how we could improve the advising program. Furthermore, the skills I gained as an advisor explaining FAFSA and other complex financial aid policies helped me be a strong facilitator of the group.

For this project, instead of explaining financial aid, I was explaining key decision points so that students could give input to improve program strategy. This foundation in direct service work, which I developed through the FAO Schwarz Fellowship, has proven to be critical for so many elements of my work.

3. Building my skills in mentorship

One way to contribute to a nonprofit is to support staff who may be more junior to you. The FAO Schwarz Fellowship centers mentorship as part of the experience, both providing Fellows with multiple mentors, but also allowing Fellows in their second year to mentor and support first-year Fellows. Therefore, mentorship was a skill I was able to establish and build early on. This allowed me to be successful as I stepped into people and team management for the first time.

This focus on mentorship has also shaped how I lead evaluation and learning work; one thing I always prioritize is training and supporting staff who are interested in growing their skills in data and evaluation. One example is through leading Salesforce training – this has both been fun for me, and allowed staff to feel more confident utilizing data as a resource, resulting in tangible impacts to the organization.

Lately, I have been reflecting on my career as I’ve reached the 10 year milestone at uAspire. I have been lucky to have had many people support me throughout my career journey, and I’m especially grateful for the FAO Schwarz Fellowship which offered me such a strong foundation early in my career.

Karen Wilber

Karen (she/her) is the Senior Director of Learning & Evaluation at uAspire and was an FAO Schwarz Fellow at uAspire from 2016-2018.

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January 20, 2026 In Day in the Life, Service, Special Projects

Early Alarms, Small Groups, Big Impact: A Day in the Life of a Fellow at Boston Collegiate

Getting started

Normally I would say that my day starts bright and early, except it is pitch black when I wake up at 6 am. I’m out the door by 6:40 and walk to the T station, and I commute about 45 minutes to get to school by 7:30 in the morning. Sometimes, I have the pleasure of running into my friends who I work with on the train, while other times, I read or catch up on a news podcast. It’s pretty cold in Boston during this time of year, so my 10 minute walk from the T to school gives me time to wake up in the fresh air as the sun rises over the cityscape before me.

As I enter the double doors of the school, Boston Collegiate Charter School, an administrator on door duty greets me. I then head to my desk in our shared instructional leadership team office and settle in. I eat my meal prepped breakfast while I catch up on emails, check my calendar, prepare for my classes for the day, and make any necessary copies. Then my day as an FAO Schwarz Fellow really begins.

Monday through Wednesday

My direct service work, half of my role as a Fellow, is teaching small-group literacy interventions to students, mostly high schoolers. Mondays are fairly light for me as I don’t teach any small pull-out groups. I have check-ins, other meetings, and professional development, but I spend most of Mondays working on my strategic project or Fellowship initiatives. My strategic project, the other half of what I do in the Fellowship, is documenting and disseminating best practices in education at our school in partnership with our school leadership or communications teams.

Tuesday through Friday, I teach a small-group literacy intervention during the second block of the day. I work with high schoolers in groups of three to six, working on content-specific science and social studies textbooks with a set, scripted curriculum. This targeted and structured literacy intervention (called REWARDS) works to help fill in any gaps these students have. I see each of my five high school small groups twice a week. Tuesday and Wednesday are fairly light with only one group meeting each day. After I teach my first block of the day, I have a break where I do some more prep, and then I walk over to our lower school campus, which is 15 minutes away. It’s a great way to step outside, get some Vitamin D, and break up my day.

I arrive at the lower school during 5th grade recess, and I am always greeted by shrieks and 10 year olds running up to me screaming “hi Ms. Hemley!” with big smiles, eager to show me their cool new earrings or tell me about how their hockey team won a tournament over the weekend. The energy is very different from our other campus as the kids are much younger, and you can see it in their bubbly cheeriness.

After engaging with the fifth graders,I head to my classroom and set up. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I teach an entire advisory class of nineteen 5th graders. I use the same literacy intervention as with the high schoolers, but at a lower level. Rather than sitting in a small room together around a table the way I do in the high school, at the lower school, I am up and presenting at the front of a big classroom. After our hour together, I pack up and put on my winter gear as I prepare to walk back to the upper campus. By the time I arrive, it is almost 1pm and so I have my lunch.

After lunch, I am free for the rest of the afternoon. This is when I will focus on my strategic project. Sometimes this entails writing or conducting research at my desk, but often, it means I am going from class to class to observe the different teachers and their best practices. Oftentimes I will observe the same teacher for a whole week, if not more. This is helpful to really get to know a teacher’s practice in-depth, and to follow a lesson all the way through its instruction.

Then, at 2:45, school is dismissed. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have door duty at the high school. I hold the door and greet students as they leave the building. I take this as a great opportunity to mingle with students, learn their names, and work on building relationships outside of the classroom. By the time the last few students are trickling out, it’s 3pm, and I typically only have 30 minutes left of the day. With those 30 minutes, I will often finish up whatever it was I was working on before heading out for the day.

Thursday and Friday

The second half of the week looks a little different, however. Thursday and Friday are my back-to-back busy days. Like Tuesday and Wednesday, I start my morning with my first literacy group of the day. However, I then have two more right after that until a little after 11:20. From there, I run to the middle school side of the building where I supervise a 7th grade FOCUS block, a structured and self-directed enrichment time for middle school students. They either work on math or reading through an independent and asynchronous computer program, similar to what you might see on Khan Academy.

When FOCUS is over at around 12:15, I then quickly run back to my office to heat up my lunch and then run back to my small group classroom where I host a small lunch group with some of my students and their friends. It’s nothing structured, just a safe space for students who may feel overwhelmed by the large cafeteria while also providing some social time with an adult. After chatting with my students, the bell rings to signal that lunch is over at 12:51, and the students who I don’t teach filter out, while the students who I do teach filter in. At that point, I teach my last literacy block of the day until around 1:45. From there, I can finally head back to my desk and finish up any tasks or projects I have going on. If it’s a Thursday, I have a new teacher meeting from 3:30-4:30. Otherwise, on Fridays, (and some Thursdays), I’m out the door at 3:30.

The rest of the afternoon

Although my job requires me to wake up at dawn, the benefit is that I am often done with work almost two hours before most people. That means I have the free time in the afternoon to do things and have hobbies. So often I will take the T straight to Harvard Square and hit the bouldering gym while it is still empty. By the time I leave around 6-6:30, many people have just arrived. I then head home and eat dinner, study for the LSAT, read some more, and get ready for bed before I hit the hay at 10pm so I am well rested to do it all over again the next day.

While a repetitive, early, and structured schedule is definitely an adjustment from college, it has been incredibly interesting to adapt to this new lifestyle. Not only am I getting used to it, but I am taking full advantage of all the free time it allows me to have in the afternoon. I was never able to have hobbies outside of school and my extracurriculars. Now, I am able to partake in activities just for fun!

Furthermore, while this day in the life provides a snapshot into what a typical day might include, the fun part of working at a school is that you can never really predict what a day will bring! Overall, the reward is worth the early alarm. I’m learning about work-life balance and I have the opportunity for structure and boundaries in a way I never had before in the chaotic business of college.

Shoshanna Hemley

Shoshanna (she/her) is the FAO Schwarz Fellow at Boston Collegiate Charter School in Boston, MA.

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January 2, 2026 In Beyond the Fellowship, Mentorship, Service

Once a Mentee, Now Helping to Lead the Change

Once a Mentee…

I still remember what it felt like to be part of iMentor as a mentee when I was in high school. I answered some questionnaires and received notice a few weeks later that I’d been matched. For the first event, I sat next to my mentor, and wasn’t sure what to expect. I was excited, but mostly nervous, since meeting new people can be scary sometimes, especially as an introvert. Though, when I think back, these worries were from being unsure if someone I’d just met could really understand me or what I wanted for my future. But what started as an awkward introduction turned to us competing with other pairs to build the highest marshmallow towers with the support of dried spaghetti, and most of all, to one of the most meaningful relationships of my life.

Mentorship is more than a program; it’s a movement. It’s about creating cycles of support and empowerment that ripple outward.

Through my time as a mentee, I learned that mentorship isn’t just about giving advice or trying to meet deadlines — it’s about building meaningful connections and being seen. My mentor continually encouraged me, asked thought-provoking questions, and helped me stay grounded.

Whether I was navigating college applications, managing imposter syndrome, or figuring out who I wanted to be, my mentor was there. My mentor was passionate about education, while I wanted to major in computer science — which I found early on in college wasn’t my passion — so I changed my major to psychology and data science. However, she still helped me find great programs, practice interview questions, improve my resume, asked me about my day, and I built confidence in conversational skills.

As a first-generation student, my family and friends’ knowledge of the college process was limited. However, my mentor was prepared to answer questions I had or help me figure out the answers, and reassured me of my goals.

That experience shaped me in ways I didn’t fully realize at the time. It taught me that change happens through relationships, and that the support of one person can make all the difference.

Now a Fellow…

When I learned about the FAO Schwarz Fellowship, I remember an iMentor staff member told my class about this opportunity in my senior year of high school. I found the email, visited the website and excitedly saw iMentor as one of the hosts organizations. I had always admired iMentor’s mission to plant the importance of mentorship to students and prepare them for after they graduate. The idea of coming back to that same organization in a leadership role felt like a full-circle moment. In my application, I talked of my story, reflecting on how mentorship had shaped my values and commitment to service.

At the time I received my offer from iMentor, I was stressing about an exam, but once I saw the subject line of the email, “Congrats – you’ve been selected as an iMentor’s FAO Schwarz Fellow!”…I completely forgot about the exam. I was overwhelmed by a mix of gratitude and disbelief: the same organization that once supported me was now trusting me to help lead change for others.

Supporting Students as a Fellow…

As an FAO Schwarz Fellow with iMentor, I support high school students as they navigate the same challenges I once faced. Whether it’s encouraging them to work on their goals, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and networking, or simply checking in on how they’re doing. I remember a student asking me to read over their personal statement and share some advice; I gladly said yes, and their story was beautiful, highlighting what mattered most to them—the value of family. Moments like this remind me that while I can see pieces of my younger self in some students, I also see their uniqueness.

I bring a unique perspective and understanding of what it feels like to be a mentee to my Fellowship, while also entering a leadership role and learning how to guide and empower others. I’ve had to check-in with myself and remember I was once a teen (like most of us!), thinking I knew it all, but quickly realizing that I needed support in planning my future pathway and building confidence in my decisions. So each time I share my story, it reminds me of the impact mentorship can have, not just on students’ academic journeys, but on their confidence and sense of purpose.

Looking Ahead…

When I think about my journey — from being a mentee to now serving students through iMentor — I’m reminded that mentorship is more than a program; it’s a movement. It’s about creating cycles of support and empowerment that ripple outward.

I’m grateful for my mentor, for the opportunities that shaped my path, and for the chance to give back through the FAO Schwarz Fellowship. My hope is that the students I work with will one day look back on their own journeys and see how far they’ve come — maybe even stepping into roles like mine, or becoming a mentor themselves!

Deb Camacho

Deb (she/her) is the FAO Schwarz Fellow at iMentor in New York City.

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December 21, 2025 In Cohort, Service, Social Impact, Spotlight

Why I Chose the Fellowship: 5 Fellows Share Their Perspective

As your college experience progresses, it becomes increasingly important, and frequently more difficult, to decide how to apply all that you’ve learned toward your first job and career. Your education has expanded to the point where you know a lot of things about a lot of things, and it seems like there are endless options and doors awaiting you. Or, you’ve specialized so much that you’re excited to dive right in and are just looking for the perfect role.

Whether you’re a generalist or a specialist, when you find a good opportunity, how do you know it’s the right one?

Here are our 5 first-year Fellows’ perspectives, and why they ultimately chose the FAO Schwarz Fellowship:

Debora Camacho, Smith College,
Fellow at iMentor in New York City

The FAO Schwarz Toy Store has a long history of bringing joy into children’s lives, and being able to extend this same joy by joining a nonprofit organization that focuses on social impact, leadership, and education is what instantly drew me to apply.

After listening from current fellows and reading about alums—there is amazing work being done all across the Fellowship network. The Fellowship emphasizes that there are bigger-issues at hand, and focuses on ways to both raise awareness of those bigger and complicated issues and also support meaningful and impactful ways to address them.

Being able to be part of a cohort of future social impact leaders means I’ll have the opportunity to work and learn alongside others who are also passionate about making a difference. I’m excited to be part of a community that listens to diverse experiences, ideas, and challenges each other, ultimately allowing us all to grow.

Jenevieve Joseph, Spelman College,
Fellow at Hudson River Park’s River Project in New York City

I was drawn to the FAO Schwarz Fellowship because of its commitment to fostering joy among youth. The older I get, the more I reflect fondly on those who supported my journey into the outdoors, and working with the Fellowship allows me to support others the same way.

During our current digital era, deliberately fostering community is so vital. The fellowship allows working alongside future social impact leaders. The insights and experiences each fellow will be able to share will demonstrate the social impact interests of individuals across the nation. Each individual within the cohort has taken a different route to the social impact field and I am eager to learn more about their work and what drew them to this vocation.

The opportunity to be an FAO Schwarz Fellow is not one I take lightly. I am grateful for the opportunity to do direct work that benefits the community while simultaneously learning and growing in a city so far from my hometown.

Delaney Kenney, Haverford College,
Fellow at Museum of Science in Boston

I was drawn to the FAO Schwarz Fellowship because it provided the opportunity for me to pursue my dream job as a science museum educator while joining a network of mentors who will support both my professional and personal growth. As a college senior, I was nervous about entering the workforce without a support system there to guide me. The Fellowship instantly dispelled those fears because it specifically recruits graduating seniors, serving as a bridge between college and the “real world,” and supports Fellows through this transition. This fellowship especially stood out to me because it places importance on both social impact and professional development.

I am so excited to be in a position in which I can make a meaningful impact on my community. Being part of the FAO Schwarz Fellowship’s cohort of future social impact leaders provides me with the opportunity to grow alongside my peers as we learn from the experiences of our mentors to effectively implement programs that will enact lasting positive change in our communities. Being part of the cohort will allow each of us to multiply our efforts as we draw from each other’s strengths, insights, and experiences to take on, and solve, both common challenges and those unique to our different communities.

Raeva Bali, University of South Carolina,
Fellow at Trust for Public Land in Philadelphia

As an Environmental Studies major, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career path that would allow me to apply the sustainability and environmental frameworks I learned in my undergraduate studies to real-work experience. As I researched the FAO Schwarz Fellowship, I was immediately drawn into the fact that these Fellowship positions all focus on social impact and making a difference. I was amazed by all of the host organizations and their missions, so the fact that I would be able to work with these organizations and receive professional development was incredibly appealing to me!

The professional development opportunities, connections I will build with other Fellows and Alumni network, and experience I will gain through my work with the Trust for Public Land are all appealing factors that being part of this cohort will allow me to gain.

Shoshanna Hemley, Williams College,
Fellow at Boston Collegiate Charter School in Boston

I went to a normal public school in the middle of the country and somehow ended up at one of the most elite liberal arts colleges in the country. I would not have made it there if it were not for the amazing teachers and mentors who had knowledge of the system and helped empower and uplift me. Boston Collegiate Charter School serves students who may not have had the opportunity for that empowerment without the guidance of the school, and that is something I want to be a part of in order to give back for the mentorship I received.

In today’s political climate, non-profits are under attack, and being able to do work that aligns with your morals is rare. I knew that I wanted a chance to further my career in a way that is in line with my commitment to social justice and prepares me to lead in this field that is becoming increasingly difficult to enter. I want to be able to advance my ambition without sacrificing my values. I knew that the FAO Schwarz Fellowship was the way to do that.

If you think the Fellowship may be the right first step toward launching your career in social impact, join us for an upcoming info session, and check out our 2026-2028 Fellowships. Applications are due February 1, 2026 at 9pm ET.

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December 2, 2025 In Service, Social Impact

Fishing in the Big City

When you think about summer in New York City, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of skyscraping buildings, Broadway shows, taxis, subways, hot dogs, or pizza? For me, I can summarize my thoughts about the summer season in the Big Apple as one phrase: Big City Fishing.

Fishing is not the most common association with the city that never sleeps, but working with Hudson River Park Trust’s (HRPT) River Project team has taught me that being uncommon is quite special. This summer, I watched firsthand as residents and tourists of New York opened their minds to see what the city had to offer beneath its surface. After my first summer working as the FAO Schwarz Fellow at the River Project, I learned the importance of making a Fish Wish™ and the importance of looking in unusual spaces to create social change.

The more I learned, the more I could share with each passerby, and this allowed me to witness blossoming relationships to the natural world firsthand.

Big City… Fishing?

For three days of the week during our peak summer season, the Park opens catch and release fishing workshops, Big City Fishing (BCF), and training for all ages along our piers. I, alongside my team, taught fishing demonstrations and utilized any fish caught as opportunities to educate the public about fish anatomy and Hudson River ecology. Passersby were often surprised by the ability to fish in one of the busiest urban environments in the country, the outward image of which is not easily connected to exploring the natural world. Every time a lucky angler pulled a fish out of the water, a crowd would form eager to get a closer look. Watching faces morph between shock to joy or wonder was the only motivator needed to keep working through the summer humidity. People who arrived with no idea what activity we were leading were walking away with new fish fun-facts and smiles on their faces.

One of the first lessons I learned this summer was that the unexpected was rarely a hindrance at Hudson River Park. Whether that be an eel caught at BCF too slimy to unhook, or more people showing up to participate than fishing rods available, served as amazing opportunities to educate a larger audience on the vital and vibrant ecosystem right below their feet. A main goal of the Park is to “promote environmental stewardship and enhance the Park’s Estuarine Sanctuary through public education, research and habitat enhancement.”

Fish Wish™

The tenets of running a successful BCF program vary greatly. My favorite tenet best demonstrates the attitude the Park has towards outdoor education in an urban environment. Before each angler is given a fishing rod, they are told to make a Fish Wish. A Fish Wish is described by Senior Research Manager Siddhartha Hayes as, “A collaborative statement of intent and a form of manifestation that seeks to increase the productivity of fish collection gear by harnessing the will power of fellow scientists, educators, and community members.” In short, a Fish Wish is a moment dedicated to asking the universe for what anglers want to hook on their line the most. This is an opportunity for park patrons to think more about what is happening in the Hudson River.

One of the more challenging aspects of BCF was supporting park patrons who did not catch a fish, even if they had been there for multiple hours. Fishing is an unpredictable activity, and catching a fish is never guaranteed, regardless of a Fish Wish. During these moments I connected with a quote by a favorite author of mine, Henry David Thoreau. He’s credited with saying, “They lay so much stress on the fish which they catch or fail to catch, and on nothing else, as if there were nothing else to be caught.” Thoreau highlights that there is much more to take away from nature than a fish; patrons are often left with more.

Caught and Released

Arguably, the most important lesson learned at BCF is that all fish get released. Many of the individuals who fish question why they cannot bring their catch home. In response, my team often explained the delicate balance that exists within the River’s ecosystem and shared the history of the River to help guests understand why we utilize this method: ensuring viable fish populations, creating space for future anglers, and celebrating a part of New York’s recreational history.

Our most caught fish this summer were: juvenile bluefish, juvenile black sea bass, and spot. Each time one was pulled out of the water, people’s joy was palpable. Young children and adults were all making new positive associations with the River and learning that the city’s natural environments had much more to offer. Every new catch served as a moment to educate the public on the estuary’s wildlife and connect them to their local ecosystems.

Underneath the Surface

Upon reflection, hosting BCF workshops was fun and informative for myself and Park visitors. Learning and teaching others about the vibrant wildlife in the River demonstrated the uniqueness of New York City waterways. The more I learned, the more I could share with each passerby, and this allowed me to witness blossoming relationships to the natural world firsthand. I, like many visitors, was astonished to learn all that the Hudson River and HRPT had to offer. As I progress as an FAO Schwarz Fellow at HRPT, I hope to continue to witness the social impact the River makes on its community and the environmental impact the community makes on the River.

Jenevieve Joseph

Jenevieve (she/her) is the FAO Schwarz Fellow at Hudson River Park's River Project in New York City.

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November 24, 2025 In Service, Social Impact

Is Anyone Here a Doctor? Harvard MEDscience Comes to the Museum of Science

“Our patient’s blood pressure is dropping rapidly! Let’s get her an IV!”

“Quick! We need to apply a tourniquet immediately to stop the bleeding!”

“Alright, time for mom to push!”

Although these snippets of conversation sound like they might come from Grey’s Anatomy, they can be heard right inside the Museum of Science (MOS). The Museum recently entered a partnership with Harvard Medical School’s MEDscience program for the 2025-2026 school year. MEDscience provides local high school students with the opportunity to play the role of doctor once a week, to help solve medical cases in emergency room simulations. Students engage with their “patient,” a high-tech mannequin that breathes, blinks, and even talks, while learning everything from how to read an X-ray to how to administer CPR to save a patient’s life.

MEDscience not only inspires students’ future plans, it also allows them to bring medical knowledge back to their communities and families every week, helping to knock down barriers to medical accessibility.

Each week, students are presented with a case focusing on a particular body system and tasked with collaborating to successfully diagnose and treat their patients. In addition to these cases, students also have the opportunity to learn a number of medical skills ranging from administering IVs to performing intubations. The Museum of Science welcomed its first four cohorts of students at the beginning of October. MOS now acts as a satellite location for MEDscience, increasing the accessibility of this program for students whose schools are located closer to the Cambridge area, where the Museum is located.

I am lucky enough to be one of four Museum educators learning how to teach students in simulations and skill clinics. In August and September, I journeyed once a week to Harvard Medical School to shadow teachers as they led students through a multitude of cases and skills. I spent days training with staff on how to both interpret medical tests as well as how to implement the MEDscience pedagogy when teaching students. It was fascinating to learn how to read ultrasounds and CT scans, as well as to take a deep dive into the anatomy of various body systems. My MEDscience x MOS colleagues joke that we are basically doctors now. As we watch medical dramas like The Pitt, we find ourselves correctly diagnosing patients and shouting out treatment plans to the TV doctors, all thanks to our MEDscience training.

It is incredibly rewarding to be a part of the MEDscience team. My favorite aspect of this program has been the opportunity to work directly with students. It is amazing to see the students’ eyes light up as they “solve” cases and correctly diagnose and treat their patients. The mission of MEDscience is “to inspire and empower a rising generation of STEM leaders.” This program teaches students that their voices matter and that by collaborating with others, they can make a positive difference.

Although many students enter their first session nervous and unsure of their abilities, MEDscience educators always remind them that they have 14, 15, or 16 years’ worth of medical experiences to draw on: from their own life, the lives of others, and the medical media they have consumed. It is amazing to see the amount of confidence instilled in students who participate in the program. Even after their first session, I have heard students whispering, “Ooooh… doesn’t Dr. [their last name] sound good?” MEDscience not only inspires students’ future plans, it also allows them to bring medical knowledge back to their communities and families every week, helping to knock down barriers to medical accessibility.

When applying for the FAO Schwarz Fellowship, I had no idea that I would be joining the MEDscience team. Now, it has become one of my favorite aspects of my role at the Museum of Science. While starting a new job can be challenging because of the unknowns that come with it, I’ve learned that embracing the unknown leads to unexpected and incredible experiences!

Delaney Kenney

Delaney (she/her) is the FAO Schwarz Fellow the Museum of Science in Boston.

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November 19, 2025 In Service, Social Impact

Cultivating Changemakers Through Education and Empowerment

Russell Conwell Middle School and Potter-Thomas K-8 were the first two schools to participate in Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) projects during the 2024-2025 school year. This is a model that has been used all over the world; its purpose is to equip young people with the space and resources to take action on issues that they are passionate about. This framework has been applied to a wide variety of topics, reflecting the abundance and diversity of student perspectives and capabilities. Check out this archive to see examples of some amazing work all over the globe!

[My students] began to see themselves as changemakers capable of addressing food insecurity in tangible ways.

I began and facilitated these projects with a focus on Farm to School initiatives alongside Ms. Scott: teacher and garden club coordinator, Ms. Maria: school administrator, and Farmer Tito: community partner. I met with students on a weekly basis throughout the year, doing a mix of classroom activities and hands-on gardening. The goal was to provide students with the skills and vocabulary to expand their understanding of our food system, its history, the inequalities that exist within it, and their own positionalities.

So what did this look like? The program resulted in creating lessons on the history of food justice and why it exists. We had lessons and activities on Indigenous food systems, the agricultural knowledge brought through the transatlantic slave trade, and the events that followed the abolition of slavery. Covering topics like the history of Black farmers, land loss, the great migration, and food apartheid. While it’s important to talk about the root causes of these issues, it’s also important to talk about the histories of resistance to them. It is those histories of resistance that are the foundation for our current models of urban/community farming and food justice.

It also looked like highlighting important activists and learning about how agriculture and food have been used as a tool for social and economic change–like Fannie Lou Hamer and The Freedom Farm Cooperative, and The Black Panther Party’s free breakfast program.

While building this base of knowledge, we started applying it to our own lives. The students from both schools recognized that their surrounding community is a food desert, and that they have the power to address this through gardening. As we worked together, the students decided upon project descriptions, objectives, and why this work is important, all of which revolved around starting a school garden and expanding another. These are some project details that they came up with:

- - “Learning about food and culture”
  - “Learn to take care of plants”
  - “Learn about how and who started gardening”
  - “Learn about proper nutrition”
  - “Have more responsibility”
  - “Practice patience”
  - “To address food deserts”
  - “Having more options than junk food”
  - “To feed people”
  - “To build a stronger community”
  - “To have more fresh food in the community”
  - “Spreading kindness is contagious”

At the end of the year, these students had the chance to come together to meet one another, share their work, and discuss their experiences. This convening was held at Historic Fairhill, a 4.5-acre oasis of calm with hundred-year-old trees and food growing everywhere you look. The green space director, Farmer Tito, is deeply involved in countless community outreach initiatives, including at Potter-Thomas. Despite the cold and rain, the students did an excellent job presenting their projects and working together. They shared successes, challenges, and ideas about what farm to school can look like.

Through consistent participation, students not only learned about food systems and food justice but also developed leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. They began to see themselves as changemakers capable of addressing food insecurity in tangible ways. YPAR demonstrates the power of youth voices in creating equitable, sustainable food systems. By centering student leadership and community connection, they are not just learning about food justice, they are living it.

Michael Varlotta

Michael (he/him) is the Farm to School FAO Schwarz Fellow at The Food Trust in Philadelphia.

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Photos courtesy of The Food Trust.

October 24, 2025 In Day in the Life, Service, Social Impact

Butterfly Counts and the Power of Community Science

It’s a clear, sunny, and uncharacteristically mild Saturday Morning in late August and the meadows at the Discovery Center are abuzz in more ways than one. Tall stalks of Joe Pye Weed rustle gently in the breeze while little hands grip and swing butterfly nets – hoping to catch one of the countless pollinating insects that call these flowers home. Pencils and crayons scratch against journals and clip-board checklists – capturing the intricate details of each flower in its fullest bloom and keeping a running log of the different types of butterflies that visit them in search of their morning meal. The Butterfly Count has begun.

I was immediately struck by the way participants connected with their ecosystem when they had a knowledgeable and passionate guide like Damien. Over the past year, I discovered that I, too, could be that guide.

Every Summer, The Discovery Center hosts two Butterfly Counts. Guided by Damien, the Manager of Public Programs at the Discovery Center and I, visitors use butterfly nets, bug boxes, and magnifying glasses to explore our Native Meadows and get familiar with the native plants and insects that call them home. Next, each participant gets a checklist of commonly found species of butterflies and the group walks together from the meadows all the way along our ¾ mile nature trail, putting a tally mark next to each species of butterfly we see. At the end, we gather all the sheets and Damien submits our findings to the North American Butterfly Association (NABA).

What started as a way to provide alternative outdoor activities in the heat of the Summer when birding is suboptimal, has grown into a beloved tradition that empowers participants of all ages to not just discover and appreciate these insects, but directly contribute to a Community Science project that gathers data to improve our understanding of their populations and the health of our ecosystem. This data is especially crucial now when butterfly species abundance has declined 22% in the last 20 years.

Through Butterfly Counts, community members help us track different species and their respective abundances, thereby helping us better understand not only the overall health of our ecosystem at the Discovery Center, but the effectiveness of the ecosystem interventions we’ve already taken. This data not only helps guide our future onsite conservation efforts, but by submitting it to NABA, helps scientists across North America better understand and address the crisis of declining butterfly populations. While crucial, this ability to collect a large amount of data in a short amount of time is only part of what makes Community Science so powerful.

Community Science Projects don’t just collect data, they empower communities to take an active role in improving their local environments for plants, insects, animals, and people alike and increase their sense of belonging in and responsibility to their local green spaces. That’s why they play a key role in Audubon’s engagement strategy at the Discovery Center and beyond. Ever since the start of the Christmas Bird Count in 1900, Audubon has been a pioneer in connecting people to nature through Community Science programs.

Today, visitors to the Discovery Center can continue this tradition by going beyond Summer Butterfly Counts to contribute to these programs all year long. For example, monthly “What’s in the Reservoir” programs allow them to collect and test water samples from the Strawberry Mansion Reservoir to monitor and track micro and macro invertebrate abundance, overall water quality, and presence of waterfowl while learning more about the history and significance of the Reservoir as a community asset.

The Butterfly Count was the first public program I ever shadowed as an FAO Schwarz Fellow with Audubon Mid-Atlantic at the Discovery Center. I was immediately struck by the way participants connected with their ecosystem when they had a knowledgeable and passionate guide like Damien to provide tools to not just explore it, but recognize and document its interconnections in action. Over the past year, I discovered that I, too, could be that guide.

One of the most fulfilling parts of my role has been to focus some of my Strategic Project work on supporting, planning, and leading public education and Community Science programs at the Discovery Center. In particular, I started a monthly series of Nature Journaling Workshops where I encourage participants to use their journals to explore and document different features of our ecosystem that are unique to each particular season. I place special emphasis on identifying native plants, birds, and insects. Through this sustained practice, we can not only learn more about seasonal changes to the environment, but build a familiarity and relationship with it.

When the Butterfly Count came back around this year, Damien and I teamed up. I added a Nature Journaling session during the first half, with a focus on the Native Flowers that provide food and habitat for the butterflies, and he took the lead on the Count itself. As I went around pointing out especially lush Purple Coneflowers or helping little ones trap a Sleepy Duskywing in their bug box, I took a moment to appreciate how much my time with Audubon Mid-Atlantic has taught me not just in native plant and butterfly identification, but in sharing my passion and knowledge for these topics with others. I plan to continue building on these opportunities in the coming year by incorporating more outdoor exploration into my direct service of in-class lessons and helping to develop and lead more Nature Journaling and Community Science-focused public programs at the Discovery Center.

Sources:

Julie Kleaver

Julie (she/her) is the FAO Schwarz Fellow at Audubon Mid-Atlantic in Philadelphia.

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Service

Conservation Action in Every Season: It Starts with Seeds

Julie Kleaver

1. Providing a positive environment for a “yes” mentality