Fowler One of 25 Chosen for Green Corps Training

With an eye toward a career in promoting environmentally sustainable development or renewable energy, Lucas Fowler of St. Ignace will travel to Boston in July to begin training with Green Corps, a field school for budding environmental organizers. Mr. Fowler, a 2003 graduate of LaSalle High School, is one of just 25 student leaders selected nationwide for Green Corps training. His work there will begin following his graduation from Michigan State University, where he studied communications for four years.

"The idea of making a career out of nonprofit or non-government organizational work has been the path I've been preparing myself for the last few years," Mr. Fowler told The St. Ignace News April 19. "Green Corps provides the opportunity to meet and work with some of the best organizations and environmental leaders in the country, like the Sierra Club, Gulf Restoration Network, Greenpeace, and the World Wildlife Fund."

During the year of Green Corps training, students will learn to organize grassroots campaigns on a variety of environmental issues.

"Over the year, I will be observing case studies, developing media skills, learning the steps of effective campaign planning and execution, working with volunteers, and fundraising," Mr. Fowler said.

In keeping with the philosophy that environmental problems can best be solved in the field, Green Corps students help lead up to five environmental campaigns in communities across the country. Current campaigns include fairness in the bottled water industry, global warming concerns, abuses in the lawn pesticide industry, and advocating for open space in Maryland.

The Green Corps experience will give him top-notch preparation for a career in the environmental field, Mr. Fowler said, and he is interested particularly in promoting "green" residential and commercial development, or retrofitting, food production sustainability, and renewable energy.

The son of Charlie and Karen Fowler of St. Ignace, he has two siblings and their families, Nathan and Kim Fowler and Megan and Tom Cole.