
Our regular readers have followed the art and short articles of volunteer high school student, Aiden Chen, in his Wildlife at Risk of Sea Level Rise series in support of the Bay Alive campaign.
We’re happy to share that Aiden was given early acceptance to Cornell University, his first choice.
In his application, Aiden included his more than three years of volunteer activities with us, and submitted a letter of recommendation written by his Loma Prieta Chapter mentor, Mary Buxton.
Mary and Aiden created a summary interview, where each posed the same questions to the other highlighting the benefits of each role, high school volunteer and mentor.
Mary Interviewing Aiden
Q: Aiden, how did your volunteer work help with early acceptance at Cornell?
A: It helped in two ways: personal development and resume building.
I developed personally through public speaking, starting and leading the environmental club at Saratoga High School, and asking guests and groups at the Guardians of Nature Benefit if I could take their photo. I also learned to write support letters and participate in the California legislative process in other ways.
My resume was filled out by 1) volunteering for the Dark Sky, Artificial Turf , and 30 x30 campaigns, 2) taking photos and setting up / cleaning up at the Guardians of Nature Benefit, and enrolling in the Environmental Stewardship class.
Q: What did you learn from your volunteer work with the Loma Prieta Chapter?
A: I dramatically increased my ability to do public speaking at local city and county board meetings and public comment sessions. Attending the 30x30 community campaign meetings with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other local groups was a great way to learn about bureaucracy at work. I was able to see how large organizations function and what goes into making a successful campaign.
Q: What did you like best about volunteering?
A: You need to know a lot as an environmentalist. I enjoyed broadening my knowledge base by learning in depth about the various aspects of environmental issues. Environmental advocacy work taught me that there’s a lot more to what goes on in the world. For instance, artificial turf poses problems regarding health and pollution not only while in use but also after being ripped up and replaced.
Q: What would you say is the best reason(s) that you could give to future high school students for volunteering?
A: If you have the time and resources to volunteer, it’s nice to do good for the community. It’s good for your soul and it does help out other people. For me, there’s an intrinsic worth in protecting wildlife. Environmentalism is also for people because its benefits are associated with cleaner air and cleaner water. This work also brought me in contact with a lot of people and broadened my view of the world. Personally, one of the most engaging and fulfilling activities was listening in on council meetings and making public comments. Speaking itself is worthwhile as a surprisingly effective form of advocacy, but listening to others’ comments, especially of differing opinions to yours, was also really fascinating to me and shed valuable insight into the issue.
Aiden Interviewing Mary
Q: Mary, how did your work as a mentor enhance your volunteer experience with the Loma Prieta Chapter?
A: A lot of what we do as Sierra Club advocates could remain a best kept secret. So, I love using art to broadcast environmental conservation and advocacy. I was able to use these interests to support Aiden in his growth as an environmental advocate. I encouraged him to vary his illustration styles in his bird art series. He set up a website for his art work and wrote a press release that secured an article about his show at the Saratoga Library in the San Jose Mercury News.

Q: How did you get started?
A: Serendipity…I got involved when Aiden offered to donate this bird painting to the 2022 Guardians of Nature auction.
Dr. Sue Chow suggested the process of mentoring, and Dr. Shani Kleinhaus had the idea for the bird art series. Aiden asked me for help off and on. The mentor - mentee relationship grew into and beyond the San Francisco Bay Shoreline Bird Art Series.
Q: What did you learn from mentoring with Aiden?
A: How easy, fun, and creative it can be to mentor. I learned that I knew more than I thought by teaching it. And it doesn’t take that much time. We did most of the work over email and text.

Q: What did you like best?
A: I enjoyed seeing Aiden develop confidence and grow skills in so many areas. He went from a very shy 14 year old giving a three minute speech at the 2022 Guardians of Nature Benefit to winning the Youth Service Award at the same benefit two years later.

He varied his illustrations by using color, line drawing, computer drawing, GIF animations as you can see here. His short write ups became more entertaining as well as educational over time. Overall, Aiden is more confident and verbally articulate. He said “YES!” to opportunity again and again.
I also enjoyed working as a team with Aiden’s supportive parents, Dr. Sue Chow, and other generous Sierra Club volunteers. It was a pleasure to get to know Aiden and his family.
Q: What would you say is the best reason for a prospective mentor to work with a high school volunteer?
A: It’s fun to work with interested and motivated youth! Youth involvement in protecting the environment is important because they bring technical skills, a heightened awareness of current popular culture, and a sense of urgency since it’s more their future than ours that is being protected. There was also a ripple effect to other teen involvement as Aiden’s sister and friends showed up to help at the Benefit.
In closing, Aiden wanted to say one more thing…
Environmentalism is a very multidisciplinary activity. So, for me, art was one way to engage but there were also a lot of different ways to advocate. So, for other high school students looking to volunteer, you will have lots of choices that can involve your passions as a volunteer.
If you would like to volunteer as a teen or an adult or as an adult mentor, please contact James Eggers, Loma Prieta Chapter Director.
Authors: Mary Buxton and Aiden Chen