Berenice García Téllez (Bere), General Intern, has experience working overseas, learning new languages and adapting to new cultures. She is a naturally enthusiastic person and a very strong starter who is able to work independently but values the collaboration of a team.
Bere holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) in Mexico, and a Master's Degree in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Her environmental career began at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) in Saudi Arabia, conducting studies and analysis on the Water-Energy nexus. She wrote an article about the Middle East food self-sufficiency policies and its effects on water resources for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin American and Caribbean.
After Saudi Arabia, Bere moved to Norway where she had the opportunity to work on a project on the evaluation of carbon price policies for the Institute, Uni Research. Projects findings will be publishable in the next IPCC report. There, Bere also participated in different volunteering activities who supported preserving the Spanish language and cultures and traditions of Latin America.
Bere is also co-founder of the recently inaugurated Ecological Albustan in Zitácuaro, Michoacán, Mexico. This ecological resort aims to promote environmental culture and offers a recreational area that goes hand-in-hand with sustainable and self-sufficient practices.
Bere, now, lives in Boulder where she hopes to learn and contribute to encouraging Latino participation to address environmental issues through activities related to art and culture.
Jessica Godinez, Assisting in Environmental Education Programming
recently graduated from George Mason University with a B.A. in Global Affairs with concentrations in the Environment and International Development and a French minor. Her Mexican family and culture have influenced her to pursue her passion for helping immigrants and giving back to her community. She is passionate about environmental education and conservation, mindfulness and yoga and activism in both the national and international community.
Jessica currently works as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Lakewood, CO and as a part-time Interpretative Field Ranger on Mt. Evans. She works through a fellowship with the Hispanic Access Foundation and is focused on creating opportunities for engaging Hispanic families in the outdoors and in stewardship and conservation education. Her unique position elevates the work of the U.S. Forest Service by collaborating and working with non-profit partners, like AFC+A, her time is dedicated to assisting in environmental education programming, like the planning of the second annual U-CAN
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Sahar Al Nima, Administration, and Acquisition for Mandel Vilar Press is an Iraqi refugee and writer. She came to the United States in 2014 after living in Iraq, then Syria, then Kuwait. The moving around made her adaptable to changing environments and brought differences between cultures and customs to her attention early on. That, coupled with the experience of war and violence, is the main inspiration for her writing. Sahar’s main interest lies in building bridging and communicating across and beyond differences. She hopes to do so through the power of narrative.
Now, Sahar is a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She’s earning a B.A. in Humanities with emphasis on Philosophy and Sociology and a minor in creative writing. She is working on an Honor’s Thesis analyzing the representations of Arabs and Muslims in the past 30 years.
Anna Degolier, Conservation Education Intern, is a student at Oberlin College where she is studying Environmental Studies, Hispanic Studies, and Geology. She has lived in Boulder, CO her whole life and absolutely loves to be outside, especially if it involves hiking. She has volunteered at America’s Latino Eco Festival in years past, and this summer she is an education and conservation intern with AFC+A where she worked to launch the Journey for Climate Justice initiative. To kick off the this program, she went on a month-long trek across Spain to challenge herself with becoming a global advocate of climate justice by interacting with the people she met and taking pictures to document her journey, Now that she is back, she is excited to be a mentor at AFC+A's UCAN program this coming August, and to continue learning from her peers on the AFC+A team.