SALISBURY — Assisting the school in its environmental initiatives for 2020-21, Catawba College senior Kristina Rogge joins Salisbury Academy as sustainability coordinator intern.

Rogge is an environment and sustainability major as well as a communications and marketing minor at Catawba.

“We are thrilled to have Kristina on board as a partner in sustainability and look forward to hearing and implementing her ideas, both in environmental education and in the maximization of our outdoor spaces on campus,” said Head of School Beverly Fowler.

Over the course of the school year, Rogge will work with Salisbury Academy to assist the school in moving forward with its sustainability goals. Additionally, she will assist in environmental education through classroom interactions, submit periodic articles in the school’s weekly newsletter and serve as a guest speaker in Salisbury Academy’s weekly virtual chapels.

“I am grateful and excited to start working with Salisbury Academy,” Rogge said. “I am very impressed with the work they have already done, and I look forward to the work we can do together to expand their green initiatives.”

This is the second year for the sustainability coordinator internship, created in partnership between Salisbury Academy and Catawba College. Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Advocacy for Catawba College Mercedes Quesada-Embid says that the internship is the first sustainability coordinator position in Salisbury/Rowan and provides students with the opportunity to affect their surrounding community in tangible ways.

“Salisbury Academy has been an excellent partner in providing a setting where environmental students can thrive as interns, fusing their academic theory with the actionable practice of creating positive social and ecological change,” Quesada-Embid said.

Rogge said she has many plans for applying these environmental experiences after college. She would like to work toward a doctorate in sustainable development, she says, and later have her own successful non-profit that helps developing countries become sustainably independent.

“Such conscientious internships, focused on sustainability efforts, help to give students the chance to merge their personal values with career success, now and beyond graduation,” Quesada-Embid said.