HALLIE ARNO

College of the Atlantic

Class of 2022

  

A 2018 graduate of Watershed School in Camden, and a current-first year student at College of the Atlantic, Hallie focused on marine science research during her time in high school. In 2016, she presented a poster on changing temperatures in the Somes Sound at the Regional Association for Research on the Gulf of Maine (RARGOM) Conference and at the 2017 Maine State Science Fair, her project on the oxygen production of phytoplankton received second place in the Plant Sciences division.  In addition, she has held internships with Bigelow Laboratory of Ocean Sciences and the Darling Marine Center. As part of a citizen science initiative, Hallie works with the Department of Marine Resources monitoring harmful algae blooms in the Gulf of Maine. In 2017, Hallie was awarded the “Girls Rock STEM-gineer award” from Hardy Girls, Healthy Women, a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and well-being of girls and women. A member of Erickson Field Preserve’s Teen-Ag crew for four years, Hallie plans on starting her own organic vegetable farm next summer.

    

About Gen Z

I believe in hope.

    

There are millions of issues we need to change in this world, we can make only make progress if we continue to think of solutions instead of focusing on problems. We know climate change is an issue; we know hunger is an issue; we know inequality is an issue. Our generation is the one tasked with fixing these problems--if we don’t, there will be local and global disasters. 

    

It’s hard to stereotype an entire generation, and I disagree with the concept in general. It’s difficult to find scientific research on characterizing this age group -most is from marketing research, much of which is suspect. I can only speak from my personal experience and the people I know, and it is impossible to characterize people based on their age. While some of these stereotypes may be based on facts (such as the fact that we grew up with the Internet being ubiquitous for all of our lives, or that we are more ethnically diverse), others are a stretch (like “Gen Z is more independent” or “Gen Z is lazy”). Because of this, I find it hard to compare myself to these stereotypes.

    

One thing that I do know is that this generation has a lot of responsibility. And I personally believe that we are up to the challenge, perhaps out of pure necessity. I choose to have hope, regardless of the year I was born.