The Alumni Council is a committee of EcoStudio Foundation that meets annually to review reports of our work and advise the board on our projects and impact, with the goal of helping us better advance our mission through programming. The Council is composed of program alumni with a special passion for conservation, education, and the arts. After participating in one of our Global Learning programs, alumni are welcome to hold a seat on this committee for at least a year, and this term can be extended. Please get in touch for more information.
Current Members
Gabriela Hochster is a senior at Barnard College in New York City, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Education Studies. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career at the intersection of education, community wellness, and sustainability. She is passionate about the ways in which caring for the Earth and caring for our communities are fundamentally interconnected projects. She studied in Ecuador with the Sustainable Communities program during the Summer of 2023.
Luanga Junior Kasanga is a Congolese undergraduate student at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He also attended a United World College in Arusha, Tanzania. He is currently majoring in Political Science and Asian Studies and wishes to enter into a policymaking career in the future. This is especially because he comes from a nation that could be most affected by climate policies, as well as be the solution to our climate crisis. In his spare time, He loves playing and watching football (soccer) and other sports, as well as reading fiction and current affairs.
Emily King-Nobles is a Social Work major at St Olaf College with a concentration in Race & Ethnic Studies. Her future dreams consist of becoming a medical social worker, published author and avid backpacker. Emily was in Ecuador in 2022 as a part of Global Semester and cherishes every moment of the experience.
Beatriz Cintra Mariano Rebello is an International Senior at St. Olaf College from Brazil. She is majoring in Psychology, and concentrating in Family studies as well as Gender & Sexuality. Spirituality, Nature, and Education are her main areas of interest and purpose.
Melanie Roberts is a current senior at St. Olaf College majoring in chemistry with a concentration in engineering. She is looking to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry with hopes of applying her research to the renewable energy and sustainability fields. Outside of academics, Melanie loves to be outside hiking, skiing and biking. As such, she enjoyed being in Ecuador in 2023 learning about sustainability while hiking through the beautiful nature with the Global Semester group
Otto Schmidt is a junior at St. Olaf College studying mathematics and physics. He became passionate about the outdoors growing up as a Nordic skier in Minnesota. Through his education and research at St. Olaf, Otto plans to take his skills in statistics to aid in the outdoor conservation field. As a part of St. Olaf’s Global Semester in the fall of 2023, Otto traveled to Ecuador, experiencing the impactful work of EcoStudio Foundation. He believes education and sharing the outdoors with others to be critical to conservation and has worked leading canoeing adventures, lifeguarding courses, and bike packing trips for young adults.