Valerie Lee
My name is Valerie Lee and I received my bachelor’s degree in Conservation and Wildlife Management from Missouri Western State University. After I graduated, I looked around to see what opportunities were available and found the AmeriCorps Stream Team Program, which combined my two favorite passions; volunteers and protecting the environment.
Over the past year I have been involved in a wide variety of activities including Water Quality Monitoring, cleaning up ice storm debris, assisting in James River Basin Partnership (JRPB) watershed festivals, organizing Earth Day at Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery, and assisting with Intro Level Water Quality Monitoring training classes, to name a few. Also, with my sponsoring organization, Table Rock Lake Water Quality I have helped organize training seminars for wastewater professionals and helped plan the Table Rock Lake Shoreline Cleanup where 17.3 tons of trash were removed with the help of 700 volunteers! I am currently working on improving the educational displays at the Dewey Short Visitor Center at Table Rock Dam.
As I recall all of the things that have taken place over my year of service, I am amazed at the many accomplishments that I have been able to achieve. All of this was possible through the opportunities from Stream Team, AmeriCorps, and Table Rock Lake Water Quality. It has been a valuable and rewarding experience, which I would recommend to anyone interested in protecting the environment and working with incredible people. I am not sure what the near future has in store for me, but I am planning on going to graduate school and would eventually like to work as a Naturalist or Park Guide.