Orientation: Conservation Leadership Week

Conservation Leadership Week

Conservation Leadership Week marked the beginning of each cohort’s experience in the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program Collaborative. More than a program orientation, the week was designed as an immersive introduction to conservation as a community, a profession, and a shared commitment.

From the start, the Collaborative treated entry as a moment that mattered. Conservation Leadership Week created space to step away from coursework and daily routines, slow down, and connect. Students from different universities came together to learn, reflect, and work alongside one another, building trust, belonging, and shared purpose that carried through the rest of the program.

The week also introduced conservation as a field shaped by people, values, and lived experience. Through conversations with conservation practitioners and collaborative group projects, students encountered multiple pathways into conservation and began to see themselves as part of a shared community. By the end of the week, they shared a common language, emerging relationships, and a culture of openness, curiosity, and collaboration that shaped how they engaged with one another and with conservation work throughout the duration of the program and beyond.

Dr. Wesley Boone talks about his experience facilitating Conservation Leadership Week

"There are so many individuals with different backgrounds, with different interests, with different passions, and the fact that they're able to bring us all together to reflect our ideas, our interests and what makes us who we are, had to be the most impactful part of CLW. You get to see that you're not alone. You get to see that you have support. You have people who are rooting for you to be successful within this field. And no matter what, they're kind of guiding you along that journey as an undergrad, which is super important for one to have. And also, Conservation Leadership Week was amazing in the fact that not only did you get to meet different individuals, but you also got to put in the practice with different experiences, such as bird banding. You got to give a presentation of yourself in the way that you express yourself and share ideas and come together as a collective"

Britsy Rizo

Conservation League – a group video production from Conservation Leadership

"I wasn't connected to any professional networks or high school friends that shared the same interest, or clubs. So I felt pretty isolated in my career path, but everything kind of changed at conservation leadership week, when I was able to not only expand a professional network and see what the life of a conservationist may look like, but also find peers that shared the same interest as me and were passionate about conservation, regardless of background or background other past experiences with the moment of connection."

Mary Visger, DDCSP Alumni

Building Community & Belonging

Conservation Leadership Week brought together students from universities across the country, many of whom had never met anyone else pursuing conservation before. Building community was a central part of the week’s design. Through shared experiences—both structured and informal—students began forming relationships early and across institutions, creating space for trust, connection, and mutual support.

Team-building activities played a key role in this process. Camping, ropes courses, kayaking, and group challenges gave students opportunities to work together, take risks, and have fun. These shared moments helped break down barriers and laid the foundation for developing cohort, establishing a sense of belonging that students carried with them through the rest of the program.

Conservation as a Career

Conservation Leadership Week introduced students to conservation as a professional field shaped by people, values, and lived experience. Through conversations with conservation practitioners, guest speakers, and panelists, students encountered a wide range of career paths and ways of working in conservation—many of which they had not previously seen or imagined.

Speakers shared not only their professional trajectories, but also the uncertainties, tradeoffs, and decision points that shaped their journeys. These candid conversations helped students understand conservation as a field with many possible entry points and directions, and encouraged them to reflect on how their own interests, skills, and values might align. For many students, this was the first time conservation felt like a space where they could realistically see themselves building a future.

Charisa Morris reflects on her interactions with Scholars while speaking at Conservation Leadership Week

"You have these brilliant minds in front of you. And you give them a little bit about yourself and your journey. And then they turn around and say, I'm going to do this. And Turn around and start asking these super thought-provoking questions, like not simply follow-ups to the material that I just gave them, but questions that you could tell in many cases had been on their minds, whether for a short time because they just explored something and they drop a question that they think is simple, when in fact it's the depth to the questions was impressive."

Charisa Morris

Dr. Mamie Parker’s reflects on her experiences with Scholars during Conservation Leadership Week

Scholars encouraged to explore career opportunities at the E.P.A.