Hi supporters of FoB! My name is Emmie Cornell and I am brand new to WV, but I love it already. I grew up in Chattanooga, TN and graduated in 2018 from Berry College in Rome, GA with a biology degree and botany/conservation concentrations.
During my summers at home in Tennessee, I interned with TennesSEA , a nonprofit that works to identify pollution sources, monitor watersheds, and engage the public about the need for clean water. I served as the water testing and mitigation leader in Chattanooga for two years, identifying unhealthy streams within two watersheds and providing the city with watershed health data. During those summers, I helped lead the Kids4CleanWater camp, visiting different watersheds around Chattanooga with elementary and middle schoolers.
While at Berry College, I assisted with water testing on campus on and off, helping several professors with water quality related research projects. Most of my student work time was spent as the manager of the Agrobiodiversity Conservation Program, running several gardens on and off campus. One of those gardens was at a transitional homeless shelter downtown, and after graduation, I was hired on as their urban farm manager and nutritionist.
While I loved growing food and feeding people, farming isn’t what I wanted to do forever. When the opportunity to work for FoB came around and I was able to visit, there was no denying that this is where I wanted to be. I have big shoes to fill, but am thrilled to be able to help make a difference in such a beautiful part of the country and am excited to call Blackwater home.
