What Are My Passions?

Obviously, I’m passionate about my sport, but there’s more to life than competition, and I do have strong feelings about our environment as well. Like my Mom always says about our planet, “If you mess this place up, then where are you gonna live?” She’s right.  My sister and cousins agree.

Together we partnered with the Audubon Society and the Arkansas State Game & Fish Department to form the Parker Branch Stream Team. We assessed the condition of the branch that runs across our grandparents' farm and determined that it needed help.

We monitored water quality and chemistry, organized monthly cleanups, organized an outreach to the community called a bug-kick, planted new, indigenous vegetation in the riparian zone between the county road and the branch, and we worked with the County to change road maintenance practices that were widening the road and causing it to encroach into and negatively impact the branch.

The EPA and President Bush recognized our work by awarding each of us the President’s Environmental Youth Award. The President flew us to Washington and personally bestowed the award on our team.

That’s me at 14, I’m the tall girl standing to the President’s right. To my right is my cousin Madeline Hogue. To the President’s left is my cousin Millie Hogue, and to Millie’s left is my sister Isabella. The four of us girls are the Parker Branch Stream Team.

Mom also applies her quote to our bodies.“If you mess this one up, then where are you gonna live?Lungs are for breathing air, not cigarette smoke, drugs, or pollutants.”

My advice, “This is the only life you have; live it like it’s important to you!” I am proud to support and recommend Heifer International ® as a charity promoting sustainable self sufficiency, stewardship for the planet and for mankind, and hope.