Brookfield's Rory Collins presents environmental capstone project at Bates College

Rory Collins of Brookfield presented the results of their environmental studies capstone project titled, "Extending and Improving Connectivity Along the Androscoggin Greenway Trail Project". Collins, the child of Mr. and Mrs. Michael G. Collins of Brookfield, Conn., and a 2015 graduate of Brookfield High School, worked with two other students, Sarah Delany of Chicago, Ill., and Danielle Ward of Atlantic Highlands, N.J., on the project.

As part of their environmental studies major, Collins, completed courses in natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities in addition to a 200-hour internship and the community-engaged capstone course in which groups of students pair with a community organization to bring scientific and other types of expertise to a specific project that addresses a community-identified need. Bates' environmental studies program is a national model for building civic engagement into academic programs.

Darby Ray, director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, said, "The Bates environmental studies program exemplifies the high impact of community-engaged learning. The program weaves public engagement into the fabric of the major, producing valuable outcomes not only for the students, but also for the off-campus community partners with whom they collaborate."

Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates is internationally recognized as a leading college of the liberal arts, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world. Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community.

With a commitment to affordability, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion or national origin. Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world.