Kendra Brumfield used to be captured in the urban lifestyle. “Three years ago you would not catch me outdoors touching anything green,” the senior at Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain explains. “I was a hermit and stayed indoors most all the time.”

She grew up in the urban atmosphere of southwest Atlanta before moving to Stone Mountain a few years ago. Then in the summer after her 10th grade year, Kendra attended a week long nature camp on the Georgia Tech campus where she helped clean creeks and rivers, took interpretive nature walks, and learned about threats to the environment.

In addition, “Warnell (School of Forestry and Natural Resources) representatives came and told us about the School,” she said.

Kendra always wanted to study the law and already wanted to attend The University of Georgia. Now she has developed a real interest in the natural environment.

To her, the Warnell School seemed the ideal place to gain a foundation of understanding about the science and management of natural resources, so when Governor Perdue canceled classes due to extreme gas prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Kendra and her mother accepted an invitation from Associate Dean David Newman to take a tour.

During the visit, Dr. Newman offered Kendra an opportunity to participate in a summer program working with Dr. John Maerz, a professor of Herpetology in the Wildlife program.

No, Kendra did not know what Herpetology (study of amphibians and reptiles) meant, but as the summer came to an end, she admits, “I’ve learned more than I ever thought I would about frogs. There not just icky anymore.”

Kendra spent much of the summer assisting Alina Ruiz, one of Dr. Maerz’s graduate students, in collecting data for her Masters Thesis. Together they compared the performance of tadpoles in natural wetlands to those in man-made wetlands used to reclaim water.

“At the time, I didn’t know if I wanted to do this,” Kendra said. “In time, after everyday exposure, I became attached to the creatures we were collecting.”

Ruiz, an hispanic student who also grew-up in Atlanta, said Kendra was hesitant the first time they visited a pond together. “I’m not sure she had ever been to a pond before. She would only go in shin-deep.”

By the end of the summer program, Ruiz says her young apprentice had gained an increased level of comfort in natural environments that used to be threatening.

“I’m very proud of her,” Ruiz said. “She is really smart and has grown a lot around college students.”

Kendra is now committed to the idea of becoming an attorney specializing in environmental law after completing her undergraduate education at the University of Georgia, where she intends to apply during her final year in High School.

Ultimately, Kendra wants to be a politician, in the mold of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. While her ambitions are high, her motivation is certainly adequate to achieve such lofty dreams.