During my time as a Sustainability Fellow this summer at Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership, a small off-grid island roughly 12 miles off the coast of Rockland, I had the pleasure to live and work in a wonderful community. Hurricane Island deeply values sustainability, and employs many sustainable systems including solar power, wastewater treatment via constructed wetland, composting toilets, and food scrap composting. One of my key roles this summer was to work alongside the Island Director to look closely at our solar energy system and discuss plans for redesign. To achieve this, I conducted an assessment on the maximum potential energy load of our electronics and sent this to a solar engineer for consulting.
View of Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership
My other role was to create and deliver lesson plans regarding sustainability and data literacy to students who come to the island to learn about science. One example of this work is a game that I created with the help of The Game Loft founders Ray and Patricia Estabrook, where students take on the roles of stakeholders in an island community and work to create proposals that make the island more sustainable. It’s so deeply important for communities to work towards sustainability, and it’s imperative that younger generations learn what it means to be sustainable so that they make take the knowledge and vocabulary into their future professions.
This experience has been transformative for me in more ways than one! I learned about the many challenges of creating and maintaining a sustainable island community, I learned how to teach children, and I learned how to be a leader!
After working at Hurricane Island, I have a greater sense of confidence within myself – this experience pushed me out of my comfort zone, taught me brand new skills, and helped me grow both professionally and personally.
Sunset view from Hurricane Island
I have grown in so many ways, not only as a worker but as a person, and I am beyond grateful. This experience has been monumental, and I am excited to take the skills and knowledge I’ve gained this summer into future settings!
Arielle and the Sustainability Institute are grateful to Tom’s of Maine for their incredible generosity in supporting this 2023 UNH Sustainability Fellowship at the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership!
