4 minute read
A Wildlife Ambassador
SUCCESS LAURA LATZKO • COLLEGE TIMES UA graduate student Earyn McGee is obsessed with UA STUDENT BRINGS SCIENCE, SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACTIVISM TOGETHER of her #FindThatLizard game. Sometimes, she engages her followers by sharing their lizard photos. Her videos and posts have my own sisters who tell me the same,” McGee says. lizards. Her work in the sciences and will often show her in the fi eld, catching and collecting data on lizards. She regularly talks about MEETING GOLIATH environmental her favorite species, Yarrow’s Spiny McGee went conservation has led Lizards. from using social her to the Forbes’ 30 In her videos, she shares media for personal Under 30 list. She information such as where to fi nd to educational was also honored lizards and how to hold them, tell uses in June 2018 as an American Association for if they’re pregnant, measure them after she posted the Advancement of Science mass and determine their sex. about a large media science and engineering “When I’m making a video, I’m tadpole named fellow and an AAAS If/Then making it for my younger self, Goliath found at ambassador. the one who was sitting there the Southwestern PHOTO COURTESY EARYN MCGEE
A statue was made in her watching Steve Irwin and Jeff Research Station. For UA graduate student Earyn McGee, science education is tied to sharing her own story, teaching others and increasing likeness and installed in Central Corwin and thinking it would be “People just representation of African American girls in the sciences. Park Zoo as part of the ambassador so great if I could do something thought it was program’s #IfThenSheCan-The like that and have that as a job,” the weirdest, coolest thing and Exhibit. McGee says. went wild for it. It ended up going
“The ambassador program is She says it’s important to share relatively viral,” McGee says. about making women in sciences with others what it has been like Although she grew up with social more visible, giving us the tools we to be a Black woman in the science media, it took time for her to fi gure need to succeed in our endeavors fi eld. out how to use it differently. and our scientifi c efforts, and “For me, it’s not just about “I had to fi gure out my voice and building a community of women the lizards,” she says. “It was what I wanted to share,” McGee scientists. That way we can lean on about telling people about my says. “I thought no one would each other and collaborate,” McGee experiences of a Black woman in a care. Then, I was like these things says. predominately white fi eld. It was are important to me, so I’m going
McGee has long been an trying to fi nd the balance of not to share them, and hopefully it inspiration to others. Working completely tanking my career but resonates with others.” toward her Ph.D. in wildlife also being true and authentic while She hopes to continue to mentor conservation and management, entertaining people. Finding that and inspire others as she has a McGee shares facts about lizards balance was a little diffi cult. I would graduate student. and other creatures through say it probably took me a year to Working as a mentor is not new YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. fi gure it out for myself.” for her. For three years, she was a On Instagram and Twitter, she Through her work, she hopes to graduate student mentor in UA’s posts under the name Afro_Herper, encourage girls to pursue careers in Doris Duke Conservation Scholars a play on “herpetology.” science. Program, which aims to create
She asks her followers to look “I defi nitely have parents more diversity in the sciences. for different species of lizards who email me and tell me their “As a mentor, I felt like even in photographs she posts as part daughters have been inspired. I though they were helping me with my fi eld work, my role was to serve them and help them get to where they wanted to be,” McGee says. McGee earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Howard University and UA, respectively. She came to Arizona as part of the Environmental Biology Scholars program, working closely with faculty mentor adviser and herpetologist George Middendorf. She hopes to expand her research and to include foxes, wolves, octopuses and elephants. LONGTIME GOALS
The oldest of fi ve kids, McGee was born and grew up for a time in Atlanta before moving to Inglewood, California, for middle and high school. She didn’t have many pets, except for hamsters and a bearded dragon.
She thought she wanted to be a veterinarian, but in college leaned toward wildlife management.
“I always had a love for science and a passion for animals. It really was a whole lot of hard work, perseverance and determination,” McGee says.
Although 2020 was a challenging year for everyone, McGee continued with her work. She stays socially active by helping to organize Black Birders Week, a virtual movement that brings together Black birders. This followed an incident in Central Park where a white woman threatened to call the police on Marvel writer Christian Cooper, who was bird watching.
McGee says she can relate to many of the issues tied to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“This issue very much does touch science, the outdoors world, natural resources and the environment,” she says.
“Our goals are to call out our peers who are not saying anything about the atrocities that are happening in this country and to also build community and uplift each other as Black people in the outdoors.” CT
Earyn McGee
