Senior year has been really good, but very busy,” says Madeleine Kopf-Patterson ’18.
Her senior year has been filled with an abundance of lows and highs, including stressful college applications, her time-consuming volunteer job at the Woodland-Park Zoo, and getting ready to move on from Seattle Prep.
Although being a senior at Prep keeps her busy already, Kopf-Patterson spends the free time she has volunteering at Woodland Park Zoo as an environmental activist. “I started volunteering there because it’s close to my house, I grew up going there a lot, and I love animals.”
Kopf-Patterson says her volunteer work has led her to meet “a really great group of people.” She adds, “I’ve learned a ton from it, and volunteering there provides lots of really great opportunities. I really like that it’s a way of actually doing something about environmental issues, instead of just learning about it and not really doing anything. I love teaching others and taking action on issues I care about.”
Her job consists of training new volunteers on what to say to visitors, and informing guests on conservation and animals. “We’re very connected with guests”, she says. “We are working to empower other teens around the Seattle area to take action on climate change.”
Kopf-Patterson will be attending the University of Washington next year and she plans to double major in political science as well as environmental science and terrestrial resource management, with a minor in marine biology. She will also step up from volunteering and start an internship at the zoo.
Kopf-Patterson added, about her future “I love the environment, and I’m really looking forward to starting my major immediately. I’m excited to take classes in areas I’m interested in and to meet new people who are also interested in those things.”