If you can dream it, you can do it - Stetson University

Individuals can make a difference
AIR's Projects
By Molly Justice and Mary Napier
One Stetson University student who took Dr. Anne Hallum's
environmental politics lessons to heart was 21-year-old
Brooke Lacy of Edgewater.
Lacy, now a political science senior, was one of two
students who traveled to Nicaragua for five weeks in the
Reforestation nurseries
Thirty-five community-run nurseries annually
produce more than 200,000 trees. As each permanent
nursery becomes self-sufficient, Alliance for
International Reforestation Inc. moves on to another
community.
summer of 2000 to participate in the Alliance for International Reforestation
Agroforestry systems
(AIR) Inc. program. Students are able to participate in the program thanks to AIR has trained more than 300 farmers to incorpo-
all-expense-paid internships funded by Stetson Trustee David Rinker.
rate trees into agricultural fields. They're also
"I was impressed with the things they did and that it was community-
training them in non-chemical farming practices that
based," Lacy said of the program.
The students divided their time between planting trees; working in the
are safer and cheaper.
three established nurseries in Rio Abajo, Casa Blanca and El Mango; and
Fuel-efficient stoves
providing education about the environment to children of all ages.
Since 1995, AIR and the community members and
"We kept our programs with the children fun and interactive, even
visiting work teams have built more than 500 brick
providing competitions complete with prizes, such as donated stuffed animals
and bubbles," she said. "Because the nurseries had been previously established
stoves, saving 500 tons of wood a year.
in their villages, the children were already aware of AIR, which made our
Environmental education
work easier."
AIR provides textbooks and educates more than 120
Lacy said the most surprising thing she learned during the experience was rural teachers annually to implement a reforestation
the Nicaraguan people's desire for their country to be more like the United curriculum in their classrooms. More than 4,000
States.
students learn the basics of ecology
"They all wanted to come here,"
she said.
and participate in planting trees.
However, Lacy said she tried to
Radio
convey to the people that they possess
Another key part of environmental
many non-material gifts that most
education has been the weekly
Americans lack.
radio program produced by and
"I went with the intention of
featuring AIR staff. The show
figuring out what I could do to make
includes practical information on
Nicaragua more like the United
soil conservation, organic fertilizers,
States, but I left trying to figure out
how I could make the United States
fruit tree grafting and much more.
operate more like Nicaragua from a
Medicinal plants
human perspective," she said. "They
Since 1997, AIR has worked in the
were just so humble, so caring and
production and packaging of
sharing. They never lost sight about
what life is really about."
The lessons Lacy learned in
Nicaragua were exactly what Hallum
is trying to teach her students.
"I want students to see how
Brooke Lacy, back left, and Ashleigh
Miller, back right, are surrounded by
bubble-blowing Nicaraguan children
during their summer 2000 internship
with AIR in Esteli, Nicaragua.
medicinal plants in six communities.
The indigenous local Mayan
women have been instrumental in
sharing their wisdom about these
gardens.
individuals can make a difference," Hallum said. "They will begin to see
Stetson University internships
the reality of how two-thirds of the world lives and know that the United A new grant creates summer internships for Stetson
States is part of the exception. I want them to be critical of our weaknesses, University students to work in Guatemala or
which can be brought on by overabundance. Sometimes students start to
realize that the most important values are not those of materialism."
Lacy, a Pelham Scholar at Stetson, is involved in church activities and
played professional women's tackle football with the Daytona Beach
Barracudas last fall/winter. She plans someday to pursue a career in politics.
Nicaragua with AIR staff.
14 STETSON UNIVERSITY