Welcome to New Watershed Alliance Graduate Assistant Alison Spasyk

By Shari Halik
May 24, 2023

Alison Spasyk joins Lake Champlain Sea Grant and the Watershed Alliance program as a graduate assistant starting June 1. Alison will help the Watershed Alliance education team bring aquatic science to K-12 students and teachers in the Lake Champlain basin during both summer and academic year sessions.

“I am extremely excited by this opportunity to get involved with Watershed Alliance and learn more about using our watershed as a framework for teaching students about the physical, chemical, biological, and cultural dynamics in the place they live,” said Alison. “Developing an understanding and appreciation of the watershed you live in at an early age is critical to fostering a sense of stewardship of natural and cultural resources.”

She has been involved in numerous education and outreach initiatives focused on developing an appreciation for Lake Champlain and teaching students and community members about what they can do to care for local waterways. In her new role as a graduate assistant, Alison will continue to educate students, teachers, and community members and inspire them about actions they can take to improve water quality. 

“We are so excited to have Alison join our team,” said Ashley Eaton, Watershed and Lake Education Coordinator at Lake Champlain Sea Grant. “Alison brings a unique skill set and broad range of experience working with Vermont communities.”

A native Vermonter, Alison graduated in 2020 from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where she double-majored in biology and government. For her undergraduate thesis, she studied environmental justice in Vermont. Using GIS mapping software, she examined whether toxic-releasing facilities in the state are disproportionately located within low-income or BIPOC neighborhoods. As part of the project, she investigated which external market factors may contribute to inequitable environmental burdens in Vermont.

Since graduating, she completed two years of AmeriCorps service with Vermont Works for Women and with Friends of Northern Lake Champlain, where she worked for the past year as a project coordinator. She helped develop and submit grant proposals to state and federal programs to fund assessments, engineering designs, and implementation of projects for stormwater management, floodplain restoration, and shoreline protection.

This summer, as a graduate student with Dr. Kris Stepenuck at the University of Vermont, Alison will begin her Master's research, for which she will evaluate the long-term programmatic outcomes of Watershed Alliance.

“Over the next two years, Alison’s work with Watershed Alliance and her research will help answer questions around the impacts of watershed focused education programs,” said Ashley. “This research will inform practice and provide more information regarding the role of watershed education in the greater context of sustainability.”