Learn about this year’s outstanding cohort of Ted Smith Conservation Interns!
Sarah McDowell
Sitka Conservation Society
Sarah (she/her) was raised in the Colorado Front Range and is a rising third-year at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biological Anthropology with concentrations in Primatology and Conservation and a minor in International Indigenous Studies. She is the Vice President of the Outdoor Adventures Club, which allows her to engage with the community to promote and facilitate safe outdoor recreation. Sarah is an avid lover of the outdoors and is excited to explore the beauty of Alaskan summer through backpacking, trail running, sea kayaking, and climbing. During the past three summers, she has developed her talents working outdoors with youth in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. She is ecstatic to apply this knowledge to her work with the Sitka Conservation Society as their Youth Development Fellow. With SCS, she is most excited about the opportunity to help connect young minds to their natural environment through the local community, as well as continuing to develop children’s admiration for and stewardship of their Alaskan backyard.
Gabriella Chalker
Alaska Community Action on Toxics
Gabriella Chalker (she/her) is excited to be serving as the Environmental Justice and Community Health Researcher/Advocate for Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) this summer. She is a 2024 graduate of Middlebury College, where she created her own “Health Humanities” major, taking an interdisciplinary approach to understanding health disparities and experiences of illness across populations. Post-grad, she has engaged in community-led environmental and health justice work in Jakarta and Kathmandu, and is now doing reproductive health policy research at Brown. She is looking forward to learning more about community-based participatory research, environmental health, and policy translation from ACAT.
Cecily Parks
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC)
Bio coming soon!
Lily Skoczen
The Alaska Center (AYEA)
Lily (she/her) was born and raised in Bellingham, Washington, and is currently studying Peace and Conflict Studies and Arabic at Colgate University. She loves all things outdoors and cannot wait to visit Alaska for the first time. Lily is deeply committed to environmental advocacy and community organizing, and is excited to spend the summer interning at Alaska Youth for Environmental Action.
Andrew Okerlund
Anchorage Parks Foundation
Andrew Okerlund has descended deeply into the well of adventure and doesn’t know if he’ll ever reach the bottom.
In school he studied computer science; outside of school he studied what it means to live a life well lived.
In his free time he loves experiencing the outdoors through climbing, skiing, cooking, camping, and long conversations. To level the scale, he enjoys creating videos and creative writing.
Cearah Egwuonwu
Audubon Alaska
Cearah Egwuonwu (she/her) is the Audubon Alaska Outreach and Communications Advocate this summer. She is a rising senior, majoring in Geography and minoring in Biology at Middlebury College in Vermont, taking classes like Conservation Planning with GIS, Ornithology, and Animal Behavior. This past year, she took a gap year to study at Outer Coast in Sitka, Alaska, learning about Alaska Native tribal governments, ecology, and storytelling. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at the animal shelter, crafting, and going on bike rides. She is excited to be in Anchorage and is looking forward to seeing all the wildlife, especially the birds.
Noelle Doucette
Kachemak Heritage Land Trust
Noelle was raised in Cornelius, North Carolina, and currently studies at North Carolina State University, pursuing an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources with a concentration in Policy and Administration and a minor in Economics. Passionate about environmental justice, climate policy, and resource conservation, they serve during the academic year as a Campus Fellow for the North Carolina Conservation Network (NCCN), a nonprofit leading grassroots movements to improve the health of North Carolina residents and their environment.
This summer, Noelle will join Kachemak Heritage Land Trust as the 2026 Communications and Development Assistant, with a primary goal of connecting with others who share a commitment to protecting the planet. Looking further ahead, they hope to attend law school and become an environmental attorney focused on advocacy and sustainable resource management. Outside of their academic and professional pursuits, Noelle enjoys backpacking, solo traveling, volunteering on local trails, and competitive rock climbing.
Rhett Krovitz
Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association
Rhett is a rising senior at the University of Virginia. He is excited to be an Alaska Conservation Foundation intern as part of the Ted Smith Conservation Program. This summer, he will be working with the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, taking part in and assisting with several aquaculture projects. He is passionate about all things marine and is looking forward to an impactful summer in Sitka, Alaska.
Mari Kramer
Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government
Bio coming soon!
Rosalie Deglise Moore
Cook Inletkeeper
Rosalie (she/her) is a rising senior at Occidental College getting her BA in Urban and Environmental Policy with a minor in Food Studies. She is working with Cook Inletkeeper (CIK) in Homer, Alaska, as their Climate and Clean Water intern and is incredibly excited. Rosalie studies extractivism and water justice, grounding her academic work in her experience volunteering and interning for various climate, labor, and environmental justice organizations. Her past roles have involved policy and campaign research, community organizing, and rulemaking for her regional air quality regulation agency. Rosalie is looking forward to expanding her experience and knowledge while in Alaska and, of course, enjoying a summer on the stunning Kenai Peninsula. While she was a circus artist for 12 years, living in Montreal to attend high school at the National Circus School, Rosalie now spends her free time hiking, reading, listening to audiobooks, and going to the beach. She also loves to play Ultimate Frisbee whenever and wherever possible, and, when prompted, she will do a cartwheel or two.
Analisa Mayo-Ramos
![Graduate in a navy cap and gown posing with a peace sign, wearing a colorful stole and purple lei; towers and trees in the background on a paved plaza.]](https://alaskaconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/unnamed-3-e1783961439637.jpg)
Yukon Inter-Tribal Watershed Council
Analisa Mayo-Ramos was born in Fort Hood, Texas and grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. Her parents are Shoni Mayo and Guadalupe Ramos Jr. Her maternal grandparents are Bonnie Mayo of Steven’s Village, Alaska and Wilbert Toledo of Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico.
Mayo-Ramos graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in December 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. She graduated in May 2026 with a Master’s in Physics from the University of Texas at San Antonio, with a concentration in materials science with nuclear energy application.
Mayo-Ramos has a passion for culturally inclusive science materials for Indigenous students and tribally-informed conservation of Pacific salmon. In her free time, she enjoys roller skating, reading fiction by Indigenous writers, and spending time with family.
Hailey Backer
Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Hailey (she/they) is originally from Reading, Massachusetts, and is a rising junior at the University of Vermont. She is studying Wildlife and Fisheries Biology with a minor in Geospatial Technologies. She is excited to be a Ridge Monitoring Naturalist for the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies in Homer, Alaska, this summer. In her free time, she loves hiking, birding, climbing, listening to music, and hammocking.
Lauren Crane
Lauren (she/her) grew up in the deserts and coastal mountain ranges of southern California and graduated this May from the University of San Francisco with a degree in Politics and Environmental Science. Prior to coming to Alaska, Lauren’s experience with salmon was mostly experience with a lack-there-of and the massive efforts underway in California to bring back these resilient fish to their native waterways. She felt the call to Alaska as she wanted to work on one of the most productive salmon fisheries on the planet – the Kenai watershed. On Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, salmon are the lifeblood of culture, economy, and the environment. She has loved spending her days waist deep in glacial waters educating anglers, protecting riparian zones, and restoring native habitat and can’t wait to catch and cook her first salmon! Lauren is honored to be among this impressive class of Ted Smith Conservation Interns and grateful for the opportunity to live and learn on the Kenai peninsula!
Cecilia Moushey
Alaska Pacific University
Cecilia (they/them) is from Asheville, NC. They recently graduated from Warren Wilson with a major in Environmental Science and a minor in Sociology. They love to read and write, create in many different mediums, and rock climb. They are excited to put their hands to work this summer and empower communities through sustainable means of subsistence.
Taralynn Chesley
Discovery Southeast
cama’i! Taralynn Agnacuungaq Agluryaq-Calista Imurniralria was born and raised between Anchorage and Port Heiden, Alaska! She is interning at Discovery Southeast as an outdoor educator this summer. She is Curyung, Sugpiaq, and Yupik! She just received an Indigenous health and wellness certificate from Crazy Horse Memorial University. She will be returning there in the fall for her teaching certificate, and her main degree is in art therapy at University of Minnesota Morris! This will be her second year of schooling after taking a gap year to do firefighting. Her ultimate goal is to be a traditional healer for her people! She loves to do multimedia arts, read, anything outdoorsy, cooking, and language learning!
