Student: Jonah Dickerson

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Jonah Dickerson spent most of his time outside while growing up in Gatesville, the Gates County seat nestled in northeast North Carolina between the Chowan River's vast floodplain and the Great Dismal Swamp.

The fields and swamps in his backyard helped influence his decision to major in geographic information science and technology at East Carolina University, where he is a junior in the Honors College. He's also adding geography as a second major this year.

Those degrees will allow Dickerson to make a difference in protecting natural resources and helping people. "With that, you can help with things like coastal resilience, you can help with other environmental issues, so I knew I wanted to do something like that," he said.

In addition to the outdoors, Dickerson explored ECU at a young age because his two older siblings were Brinkley-Lane Scholars. His sister Ashby is now in ECU's physical therapy doctoral program. His mother earned her master's at ECU, and his two great-grandmothers received their degrees from then East Carolina Teachers College.

"I was very lucky to be able to really explore ECU at a young age. I didn't have to do all the campus tours to get to know ECU," he said. "Whenever they would have an Honors College event, they would take me to it, and I would get to see how the professors, staff and faculty interacted with the students. To me, there was no other way to really describe it - it was like a family. After seeing that, there was really no way for me to want anything else. There was nothing better."

Dickerson also participated in the Summer Ventures program while he was in high school. The program brings high-achieving students from across the state for a four-week residential summer research experience at ECU.

This summer, Dickerson gained hands-on experience working with Sound Rivers through the SECU Public Fellows Internship Program. The program's goal is to foster workplace experiences for ECU undergraduates while helping rural communities address public issues.

Sound Rivers protects the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico river watersheds through education, advocacy and water quality monitoring. The watersheds cover nearly one-quarter of North Carolina.

Dickerson mainly monitored water quality in the rivers and creeks in the Tar-Pamlico watershed, allowing him to travel across the region - from Tarboro, Kinston and Washington - and meet community members.

"I'm from North Carolina but I had never really seen these communities. It was very interesting because if you're not in that field, you don't know the issues that are going on within your own watershed. I had no clue about it," Dickerson said. "Through the SECU program, it really cemented that I'm going to do something with environmental work or environmental conservation."

On campus, Dickerson said all the Honors College faculty and staff have supported and helped him since Day 1. Another mentor has been Dr. Andrea Presotto, Dickerson's advisor in the Department of Earth, Environment and Planning in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences. He will be assisting Presotto in research on tracking animal movements this fall.

"I don't know exactly what I want to do so I want to try everything," Dickerson said. "That's why I think the internship was so great. I didn't really think the conservation side of things would be so interesting, but it was."

In high school, Dickerson won a Congressional Award Gold Medal, the U.S. Congress' highest honor for youth that recognizes initiative, service and achievement. He volunteered 400-plus hours at local elementary schools and recruited his Gates County High School soccer teammates to help lead children in exercises to complete the award's physical fitness component. Dickerson was recognized for the award by U.S. Rep. Don Davis earlier this year.

While Dickerson is still exploring career options, he feels more prepared for his future through his experiences at ECU.

"I come from a super small town and taking that step going from a small community to a big community - ECU - it puts things into perspective," Dickerson said. "Through opportunities like the SECU Public Fellows Internship program, it gave me an opportunity to lead and to learn and to see what's going on in our home state of North Carolina."