And away we go...

have less to have to fix long term. Or you can take the route of convenience and pay less now and constantly pay for gas and oil changes indefinitely”(Whitely).  She remarks that the majority of the time people take short cuts, and don’t consider the many studies on the effects the car and oil industries have on our planet. She wants to break this mold, which is why she has chosen to become an environmental engineer. Whitley wants to leave a lasting impact on the world, rather than a carbon footprint.

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            In today’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education fields, or S.T.E.M., there is still a huge gender gap between boys and girls. According to an article published in U.S. News, a survey from 2014 showed that only three percent of high school females had an interest in an engineering or technology field of study, compared to eleven percent for the boys. Only thirteen percent of girls interested will get a bachelor’s degree. Whitley is already ahead of her peers when it comes to standing out from the crowd. There is already a place that has captured Whitley’s eye as she starts to think of the future, and where she wants to make a mark to help repair the damage the oil industry has caused our environment.

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            Greenpeace is an organization that is determined to help improve environmentally damaging practices, tests, and habits. In 1971 the founders of Greenpeace rode a boat into the North Pacific Ocean to stand on the front line to prevent a nuclear bomb testing off the coast of Alaska. From where they began to where Greenpeace is now, plays a part into what attracts Whitley to them.  Over the last 45 years, Greenpeace has stood their ground on environmental issues surrounding climate change, oceans, and ecological farming, among other important global issues. Many of the original founding members of Greenpeace were strong willed woman determined to make a change to protect our planet. The fact that one of their headquarters is in the Netherlands, where her father was born, makes working with Greenpeace a perfect way for a daughter to pay tribute to her father.

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            Greenpeace currently is making a mark in the world when it comes to fighting the problems facing our planet. They strive to end the use of non-renewable resources in favor of clean renewable ones. However, they do not have a team or plan of action for transitioning automobile owners from gas powered vehicles to cleaner alternatives. “That attracted me even more to this organization, the fact that they haven’t started as big of a push in the automobile industry like they have in the oil and gas industry”(Whitley).  Whitley wants to change that. She feels that if more people had the bigger picture of the long term effects of switching to electric cars that more people would invest into that side of the industry. When more people start buying the cleaner options, the cost for gas powered cars will increase and clean energy cars will lower. Over a few decades, consumers would be able to give the earth back so much time.

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            When a young woman thinks about the future, often times it includes deciding to attend college right after graduating high school, backpacking the United States, or perhaps a vision of marriage and future kids.  Whitley sees the potential to minimize the affect of gas powered vehicles on the environment. She is intelligent, driven, and most of all dedicated to changing our world for the better through cleaner automotive options.  Whitley has. She will change the world.