Alumni

Jerome Uy (he/him) is a graduate of Eckerd College where he majored in Marine Science and Environmental Studies. As a plant dad, he grew over 100 plants in his dorm room that range from caudiciforms to carnivorous plants. He's also interested in ethnobotany, the study of how humans use indigenous plants for a wide variety of applications in their culture. Jerome's focus in the Eastman Program is exploring the intersectionality between traditional ecological knowledge and Western science and encourage the practice of two-eyed seeing.

Love is a graduate of Eckerd College where she obtained a major in Communication with minors in Japanese and Human Development. She plans to pursue work in humanitarian/ community aid and empowerment following graduation. Her interests are in addressing child trafficking in Cambodia, as well as the prospect of empowering youth via the transformation of conventional education into a holistic and interpersonally empowering model. She strongly believes these two things have much to do with one another and has developed her individualized discovery plan with this idea in mind. Out of class you can find her being silly with her dog-daughter, Violet. 

Sofie Alexander is a graduate of Eckerd College where she majored in Political Science and studied Chemistry. Her academic interests include the long-term effect of Trump's presidency and American voting policy on environmental chemistry and the extraction of microplastics from the ocean using analytical chemistry. She is passionate about proper consent education and the protection of a person’s bodily autonomy from any sexual harm or violence. In the Eastman Program, she focuses on better consent education and consent training on Eckerd’s campus, she plans on doing this with her club’s help and influence of her club, Generation Action. Outside of academics, Sofie loves taking photos of Eckerd’s beautiful campus and going on adventures with her seven roommates. 

Zachary Franco is a graduate of Eckerd College where he majored in Anthropology and minored in Journalism. Zach is interested in pursuing how to use storytelling as a tool to create community, to empower and craft a more representative narrative. As the Managing Editor and Photo Editor of The Current, Eckerd's Student Newspaper, he is passionate about finding effective ways to co-create a more representative narrative about the campus and community we live in. Outside of class, he enjoys finding adventure wherever he can, whether that be through meeting new people, exploring different parts of Florida or trying to find the best cup of coffee wherever he is. 

Katie Genovesi is a graduate of Eckerd College where she majored in Environmental Studies and Political science. She is a passionate advocate of an intersectional approach to climate change policy, and her academic interests ranged from storytelling for effective change-making to using horticulture as a way to teach the importance of diversity, community, and food security. In the Eastman Program, Katie’s focus was on climate change communication through the lens of transformative justice in hopes to spread hope and information about a sustainable future. In her free time she loves to spend time hiking, swimming, and mingling with the other creatures on this Earth. 

Alex (she/her) is a graduate of Political Science and Environmental Studies. She was a student organizer with Eckerd's Florida PIRG Students Chapter where she spent most of her time mobilizing young people to take action on the issues they care about. Her academic interests focused on environmental justice and policy and her projects through the Eastman program worked to uplift storytelling as a tool for organizing within the Environmental Justice Movement. 

Leah Totman (she/her) is a graduate of Eckerd College who majored in Women’s & Gender Studies and International Relations & Global Affairs, with minors in Spanish and Political Science. Her academic interests ranged from Latin American politics to the intersections between capitalism and gender to graphic design. For the Eastman program, Leah focused on the use of digital media as a tool for empowerment, which allowed her to explore all of her passions in a cohesive way. Her hobbies include visiting the St. Pete Cat Cafe and listening to her partner talk about bees. 

Summer Vishnu (she/her) is a passionate graduate of Eckerd College who majored in Environmental Studies and Sociology. Her academic interests included food equity, social injustice issues, and sustainability. In her free time, she loves to spend time outdoors and works on increasing her knowledge about foraging and how to live a more low waste life. For her work in the Eastman Program, she focused on community food equity movements and issues of food access.