UNL Environmental Studies student, Kayla Vondracek, recently received the Change-Maker award scholarship from the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. She submitted a two-minute video explaining potential solutions to environmental and sustainability related problems to apply for the Change-Maker award.
Vondracek submitted a video explaining her idea for an app called The Canopy, which would allow easy access for many groups of people to collaborate regarding sustainability and environmental issues. Vondracek further explained how excited she is about the idea of The Canopy being widely used, “I would LOVE to see The Canopy developed and in use within the next year or two. Specifically, I would like to see it utilized in Lincoln and on every college campus in the city. I want it to be a resource that every single person can access and use. I truly believe The Canopy could be a game-changer in combating climate change by organizing a more unified environmental movement at a manageable local scale. Eventually, The Canopy could be used by every city, big or small, and create a unique "zone" for each city and its needs. These zones would then all be connected yet again through The Canopy's network and create high visibility and transparency of climate change activism around the nation, or maybe even the world.”
The Change-Maker scholarship is given to students who “dare to dream big.” Vondracek left advice for students who are passionate to do just that, “First, I would say don't doubt yourself. Doubt has come in the way of a lot of ideas in my life, but I eventually decided that it's better to try something than never know what could have been. Second, don't be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Some of my proudest moments were a result of pushing myself to try something I never thought I could do. Lastly, try to find someone or a community that can be your support system and a platform to push off of when you need it.”
Congratulations to Kayla for succeeding in taking concrete steps to solve the complex problem of climate change.
