Student Ambassadors

Ashley Gamache

Bachelor’s in in Environmental Geospatial Technologies

Unity College Student, Ashley Gamache, developed a strong sense of wildlife preservation through outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, kayaking, etc. as a child. Science taught her how much more there is to learn from the world and how many different possibilities there are going forward. She has spent most of her young life living in Connecticut. While studying Environmental Science at Rochester Institute of Technology, she lived in Rochester, New York, before moving to Franklin County, Maine. She is currently earning her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Geospatial Technologies (GIS) through Distance Education at Unity College. Her life’s passion is to contribute, support her community, and make a difference in the world! After graduation, she plans to use her degree to work in the energy and urban development sector.

Ashley was featured in the City of Lewiston Press Announcement.

Rainy Lathrop

Completed Certificate in GIS
Bachelor’s in Wildlife Conservation

Unity College Student, Rainy, is enrolled in the Wildlife Conservation Bachler’s program, and recently finished her certification in GIS (geographic information system). With her degrees, she hopes to work with emergency teams after natural disasters, with the aid of drones and other GIS technologies. She would also like to work alongside other conservationists to map out cave systems and document the unique wildlife that makes them their homes. Currently, Rainy is located in Iowa and hopes that she will be able to use her future degrees to benefit local as well as global communities.

Javier Montanez

Bachelor’s in in Environmental Geospatial Technologies

Unity College Student, Javier Montanez, was born and raised in Patillas, Puerto Rico. Since elementary school, his passion has been sports and the outdoors. He won many soccer championships while in high school. As a youth, he not only was very versatile in sports, but he became a fitness enthusiast. While in school, his passion for science and math was evidenced by his good grades and participation in various science fairs. He got married, and now he has two amazing daughters. Living on the island was challenging for him and his new wife, so they decided to move to New Jersey for a start fresh. With training and experience in many different fields, he made a living with several different jobs but they all left him feeling unsatisfied and incomplete. He decided to move on to pursuing one of his goals in life: completing a degree in a career that will help him grow and challenge himself, and allow him to be part of a change for a better world. Now Javier is earning his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Geospatial Technologies through Distance Education which he considers to be one of the best environmental colleges. For Javier, the best part of learning through Distance Education at Unity College is being able to balance home and work life, while receiving the education he needs to succeed in his professional career. His experience has been fantastic: the professors have helped him with his questions and doubts, always answering within a reasonable timeframe, and continuing to motivate him.

Sarah Pitman

Master’s Student

Unity College Student, Sarah Pitman, is part of the Environmental Science Master’s program at Unity College. Currently based in Washington State, enrolling in this degree is part of her concerted career pivot into ecological restoration and research. She is especially interested in permaculture, intersectional environmentalism, and accessible science communication. After graduation, she hopes to focus on projects that support harmonious coexistence between humans and ecosystems, both locally and globally.

Meet Student Ambassador, Emily Verbois.

Bachelor’s in Wildlife Conservation

Unity College Student, Emily Verbois, is a Wildlife Conservation major studying remotely from Georgia. She chose Unity because they offered the major she wanted in a 100% online format, which meant she wouldn’t have to uproot her family for her education. Emily has loved all of the hands-on assignments so far. And feels it really helps to get out into local environments to really understand the subject matter. Her future career goals are to help stabilize wildlife populations in Georgia and also, hopefully, across the U.S., and to help humans and wildlife live in harmony.

Meet Student Ambassador, Melanie Goldstein.

Bachelor’s in Animal Health and Behavior

Unity College Student, Melanie Goldstein, is working on her Bachelor of Science in Animal Health and Behavior. Melanie is from the greater Philadelphia area in Pennsylvania, where her passion for animals started as a little girl. Her determination to help animal shelters and rescue animals led her to foster. In 2017-2018, Melanie helped find homes for 17 dogs and one cat. She managed to place the animals with loving families.

Over the past few years, she has become an environmentalist by doing her part in cleaning the Earth. Melanie recycles, reuses, thrifts, cleans litter, and uses reusable items. By doing her part, she hopes to educate others about threats to the environment. Also, Melanie wants to raise awareness about human activity harmful to animals.

Currently, Melanie is interning at Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park in Tampa, Florida. Melanie works in the primate department with mandrils, guenons, colobus, golden lion tamarin, Bolivian Gray Titi Monkey, Siamangs, Patas, Hamadryas baboons, Lemurs, and the Bornean Orangutans. She works with others in providing food and daily care to the animals and the maintenance of animal exhibits—behavioral observations and record-keeping, as well as animal enrichment and public interaction.

Melanie has two cats (Theo and Lilo) and a dog (Mac). She likes to go on walks with her dog and play with her cats. In her free time, she enjoys knitting, crocheting, and coloring to help destress.

Meet Student Ambassador, Ellen Wieczorek.

Master’s in Wildlife Conservation and Management

Unity College Student, Ellen Wieczorek, is working on her Master of Professional Science in Wildlife Conservation and Management in addition to her Graduate Certificate in Environmental Geographic Information Science (GIScience). She’s earned several degrees. Ellen has a Master’s Degree in Professional Science for Environmental Studies and Sustainability through Unity College in Unity, Maine; a Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoo Science from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas; and an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Zoo Keeping Technology from Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is currently seeking her Master’s in Wildlife Conservation to support her career pivot from zoo keeping to wildlife conservation. 

Ellen is an intrepid traveler, and she has visited 46 of the United States and 30 different countries. Her passport holds the mosaic of her life as a traveler, and both her friend groups and education span the globe. Maybe her “travel-bug” occurred because she was born and raised about twenty minutes from one of the busiest airports in the world–O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. Her hometown of Chicago, Illinois has the largest population of Polish people outside of Warsaw. As an adult in pursuit of education and jobs, she has lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Wichita, Kansas; Front Royal, Virginia; and now Houston, Texas. Most people from Chicago do not actually live in the city–most people live in the suburbs. Ellen grew up in Palatine, which is a quick 30-minute trip northwest from the Chicago proper. Currently, Ellen works at Houston Zoo as a primate keeper. On any given day working at Houston Zoo, she interfaces with roughly thirty varieties of primates. As a keeper, some of her duties include cleaning, feeding, medicating, training, and enriching the animals in her care. 

In addition to working at Houston Zoo, Ellen volunteers for the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre as their North American Coordinator, and she also volunteers for the Saola Foundation as their Social Media Coordinator. Other activities Ellen enjoys outside of work include traveling, nature walks, exercising, recycling, composting, visiting museums, reading, and target shooting in gun ranges. She has presented both her original research master’s thesis about Maned wolves and her Sun bear work at three international virtual conferences. Ellen has traveled to four continents: Africa, Europe, and North and South America. Her favorite continent is Asia. Her favorite country is Mongolia, where she lived in a traditional ger and conducted field research on Pallas’ cats. If you are wondering what her favorite books are, that’s an easy answer: passports. If you have a passport, she would love to hear your travel stories.

Meet Student Ambassador, Summer Kearney.

Bachelor’s in Animal Health and Behavior

Unity College Student, Summer Kearney, is working towards a second bachelor’s degree in Animal Health and Behavior. She has a previous Bachelor of Finance that she earned from the University of Hawaii Manoa. Summer enrolled with Unity after being laid off from her full-time position in retail buying due to the pandemic, and deciding that she wanted to make a career change into wildlife conservation. Summer’s goal after completing this degree is to be able to work with endangered species in an aquarium, zoo, or wildlife sanctuary. In addition to being a student, Summer is also a military spouse and mother of two young children.