Hello! My name’s Lauren, and I’m very excited to be joining the SGO this year. I’m new to CCCU and new to Canterbury – having finally ventured past London. I’ve just started a PhD exploring connections to nature in education, and the SGO is a great chance to explore a little bit of nature connection at the university as well. So, you can look forward to a year of nature education, exploration, and appreciation – tree hugging optional.

A little about me…

I’m a geographer – I think I always have been and always will be. As a child I collected virtually every rock and leaf I ever found, my favourite day out was the Owl and Otter Sanctuary (although I’ve never worked out why they combined those particular animals), and I constantly begged my parents for a pet otter to keep in our backyard. Sadly, they never gave in, but they did take me on lots of nature adventures – always in impeccable style, as evidenced below.

Thus, as the result of many childhood trips to cold, wet beaches, being dragged across muddy fields, and eating squashed picnics in the back of a car, I absolutely love being outdoors. I now regularly, voluntarily, drag myself across muddy fields and enjoy nothing more than a squashed sandwich on top of a hill.

I’m also a Millennial, which my Gen-Z sister insists is a defining character trait. This means I’m still wedded to skinny jeans, have an unwavering love of Fall Out Boy, and am currently only able to understand 70% of what gets said in our SGO meetings.

How I got here…

For the past few years, I’ve had different roles in education and generally introduced myself as a teacher. I’ve mostly taught geography, so I love a good map and some properly sharpened colouring pencils. Being a geography teacher meant that I spent a lot of time thinking about sustainability, talking about environmental issues, and exploring some of the solutions with students. However, I’ve been reliably informed that ‘teacher’ no longer really suits my situation (and caused a little bit of confusion for the job interview). So, after a brief existential crisis, I am adjusting to being a student again. I thought an academic route had closed off for me a long time ago, so I am coming back to university with a renewed sense of excitement – alongside a strong intention of utilising the library a lot more this time around.

What I’m looking forward to…

I’ve loved my time in education, and I’ve enjoyed being able to teach issues around sustainability. Exploring ways to be more sustainable and trying to integrate sustainability into everyday life makes you think differently, and I’m hoping to explore some alternative ways of thinking and doing this year. Trying to live more sustainably can sometimes seem like an overwhelming task, but I strongly believe that a community helps it feel a lot less daunting. So, I’m especially looking forward to meeting lots of you lovely people who are trying to make the world a little bit better.

My aim is to bring a sense of hope, excitement, and joy to sustainability. It shouldn’t be something that people try to do alone or feel obligated to do out of guilt. It should be something that we do together, in the hope of a better world. I’d love to join you all on this joint search for better ways to look after the planet, and start to explore the exciting, intriguing, and sometimes questionable, things that are already taking place. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of your lovely faces at our events this year as we celebrate this wonderful planet and the people in it.

By Lauren Satsi, SGO Projects Officer