WASHINGTON — Salisbury native Maggie Dees has joined the Rachel Carson Council staff as a summer 2022 Stanback Fellow.

The Rachel Carson Council is the national environmental organization envisioned by Rachel Carson and founded in 1965. The RCC educates, organizes and advocates for climate justice, environmental health and the promotion Carson’s environmental ethic of empathy for all living creatures.

Dees was selected from an applicant pool of undergraduate and graduate students to participate in the Stanback Fellowship Program, which provides students with environmental project-based learning experiences at national nonprofit environmental organizations in Washington. Fellows work on projects related to energy, conservation, advocacy, policy, research and applied resource management.

 

Dees is a rising sophomore in the Honors College at Virginia Tech, pursuing a major in environmental science. She is involved with the Environmental Coalition, the United Feminist Movement and the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. She has interned with the Natural Resource Defense Council, researching the effects of wildfires on public health and the start-up nonprofit One Green Thing, serving on its Youth Advisory Board. Dees will co-lead the Bird Watch and Wonder Program as well as the Bird Watch and Wonder Newsletter.

 

Dees grew up in Salisbury and has attended leadership summits and guest lectures at Catawba College’s Center for the Environment since she was a child. She and her family roamed through the nature preserve often.