Ecosystem Science and Sustainability student Haydyn Deason is the inaugural recipient of the Mollie H. Beattie Congressional Award for Distinguished Environmental Scholarship.
Deason, who received the scholarship in December, is a fourth-year ESS major with a minor in global environmental sustainability at Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources. During this academic year, while serving as director of the Department of Environmental Affairs for the Associated Students of Colorado State University, Deason has focused her efforts on waste diversion and coalition building.
This can be seen through her park cleanup efforts, sustainable holiday practices event and the implementation of composting in one of CSU’s last areas of campus without a full range of waste diversion options. Her coalition work involves restoring the combined efforts of multiple sustainability groups across campus to a common goal. After graduation, Deason hopes to build on her experiences in sustainability work at CSU by exploring a career in environmental policy.
The new scholarship — given to a college student within Colorado’s Second Congressional District —is designed for students who possess the potential for environmental vision and leadership exemplified by the late Mollie H. Beattie, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Bill Clinton.
Q: Did you know that you were being nominated for this award?
A: No! It was finals week and thankfully, I wasn’t in a final, but I got a call from someone saying, “I’m calling from Congressman Neguse’s office,” and they told me that I won the Congressional Service Award for Distinguished Environmental Scholarship. I was also the first-ever recipient of this award.
Q: What work do you do in your current position at CSU?
A: I work as the director of the Department of Environmental Affairs for the Associated Students of Colorado State University. There was this really big project that was started four years ago by one of my predecessors named Sofia Shepp. Shepp, along with ASCSU, had been trying really hard to get composting in the Lory Student Center, one of the last areas of CSU’s campus that didn’t have it. I’m on a committee that is overseeing the implementation of getting composting in the LSC.
I’m currently working with the CSU Foundation to address a lot of concerns around divestment from fossil fuels. Most of my work has centered around trying to improve things within the system.
My department and I also worked with the Student Sustainability Center and Zero Waste Team to create a sustainable holiday event, where we made homemade gifts. Students enjoyed being able to craft soaps, candles, and wrap with scraps of fabric provided by the CSU Nancy Richardson Design Center.
I worked really hard last summer and last semester to get the president of the Zero Waste Team and the director of the Student Sustainability Center to sit down with me every week and a half to talk about all the initiatives that we’re doing and how we can help each other out, as well.
Q: Were there any unexpected challenges that came up during your internship?
A: One of the most difficult things about sustainability work is putting on and creating these events. These events are challenging, but the work is changing people’s behaviors and changing people’s minds. That is the most difficult thing that I think a lot of us are struggling with because there are so many different ways of looking at things, and so many different backgrounds.
Q: Do you plan on continuing in the same field of work after you graduate?
A: Absolutely, I am. I work in student government right now. I really really want to work for an agency. Ideally, perhaps the EPA or Environmental Policy would be my direction. I think it’s one of the most impactful ways that we can create change. It’s slow and frustrating work, but I think that a lot of the people that I’ve met are extremely passionate. Most of the people I’ve met in Colorado are incredibly smart, thoughtful, and really passionate individuals who I’m really honestly happy with, and I would be delighted to get to work with them.
Q: What advice would you give to other Warner students looking for internships?
A: If you’re passionate about something, do not hesitate to get involved in those related clubs and similar activities, because if you want to make change, you have to be the one that makes it happen.
Q: What is your favorite memory at Warner?
A: Honestly, it sounds very general, but I think meeting people in Warner has been my favorite thing, because there’s very few other places where so many passionate people who care about the exact same things that I do are concentrated in one place.
A piece of advice I was given was to surround yourself with good people because you become the people that you surround yourself with, and I honestly am very content and very grateful to have spent a lot of my time with the people in CSU and Warner.
