Shelly Martin `08
At St. Lawrence
Major:
Environmental Studies and Government
Activities:
Shelly attended the COP13 (the UN climate summit) held in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007 along with another student and her professor, Dr. Rosales. Along with being an outdoor program student guide, Shelly participated in the ski club and was a stage craft teacher’s assistant. In the fall of 2006 she studied abroad in New Zealand. She was also on the crew and softball teams for part of her time at St. Lawrence. Shelly was drawn to St. Lawrence’s active and motivated student population, both in terms of academics and extra-curricular activities. In her freshman year, she joined the softball team, as well as the Outdoor Program Guide Program, where she focused on backcountry and telemark skiing and white water kayaking. Shelly became involved with the Ski Club and helped organize weekly ski trips, recruited members, sold T-shirts, and even co-hosted a rail jam.
On the academic side, she was a government major, but appreciated the range of course St. Lawrence offered to fill requirements- from Musics of the World to Public Speaking. During her semester abroad in New Zealand, she realized how much the environment meant to her. Not only did she want to study it, she wanted to make a career out of protecting it. She learned about the environmental studies-government combined major option and immediately figured out how she could fulfill the requirements in her last three semesters. She focused her studies on climate change and attended 13th Conference of the Parties of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with fellow student and roommate Kate Olsen ’08 and Dr. Jon Rosales. Her senior independent project analyzed three states climate change legislation. These experiences helped prepare her for her professional life after St. Lawrence.
After Graduation
After graduating in May 2008, Shelly was named the Northern Forest Alliance’s Climate Change Fellow where she organized a conference for undergraduate students. Attendees learned about the impacts of climate change on the Northern forest and brainstormed what they could do about on their own campuses. Jon Rosales, Shelly’s mentor at St. Lawrence, stood on the steering committee and over twenty St. Lawrence students attended.
After her six-month internship, Shelly went on to the Mt. Mansfield Winter Academy where she was the Sustainable Coordinator, an earth science Teacher, a dorm parent, and an administrative assistant.
In January of 2009, Shelly met Jon Griesser ’98, at a St. Lawrence networking event in Burlington. Jon is the vice president of Spring Hill Solutions, an environmental consulting firm in Burlington. Shelly’s interests and skills aligned with Spring Hill’s needs and she was hired in May 2009. Spring Hill focuses on carbon management, clean energy, and business sustainability.
When Shelly’s not working, she fills her time skiing, snowshoeing, and mountain biking with her boyfriend Jon Severinghaus ’09 and their golden retriever puppy Luna.
Shelly is excited for her brother Dustin ‘14 to begin his St. Lawrence career in August.
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