Eileen O'Connor was born in Arlington, Virginia, but spent the majority of her childhood overseas. She graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in environmental studies, concentrating in ecology and conservation. During college, Eileen taught environmental and science education in both Vermont and Virginia, sharing her passion for exploring and connecting with the natural world. After graduating, Eileen served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cambodia, where she taught English to primary school students. She later served as an AmeriCorps member at Teton Science Schools (TSS), where she worked to build capacity with local nonprofits and organizations in Jackson, Wyoming. After her service, she continued working at TSS, promoting and teaching place-based education to visiting and local students. Her time at TSS led her to Bhutan, where, through a partnership between TSS and Bhutan Youth Development Fund, she is currently completing a teaching fellowship at a small, rural primary school. She works with the teachers there to develop and implement locally-rooted, place-based education practices and create an outdoor education framework.

Eileen became interested in the intersection of climate change, development, and sustainability after seeing firsthand the impacts of the planet's changing climate. In the future, she hopes to work as an international development professional, focusing on building resilience to climate change, better preparing communities for natural disasters, and finding ways for developing places to adapt.

Summer Internship

This summer I interned with Minga Peru in Lima, which is a local NGO that focuses on creating social change in the Peruvian Amazon through empowerment, entrepreneurship and social justice. Minga's work began in 1998 when they launched a radio program answering the challenges communicated through letters that community members in the Loreto region faced. From there, Minga has developed programming responding to community needs through dialogue and engagement. This summer, we spent two weeks in the Amazon at Minga’s training center and visiting local communities. We interviewed previous and current participants in Minga’s programming and to understand the impact within the region and what future goals are. Currently, Minga has shifted some focus to co-developing people center-climate resilience projects as the rural communities along the rivers are being greatly impacted by climate change. We assisted Minga in developing communications tools, research and how to share their impact with donors.