and I am super stoked to have been chosen as a 2022 Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado Grossman scholar!

I love being outside and going on awesome adventures, and I feel that I have a very strong, passionate connection to Colorado’s land, rivers and ecology. This past year I have served as a VOC Cairn member, a Colorado Environmental Film Fest Student Judge, the President of the Green Mountain High School Eco Club, and completed a STEM Capstone called Adventure Science on the River based around collecting and analyzing data from Clear Creek, a local river I grew up rafting. Through the completion and presentation of this capstone project along with several other criteria, I earned the Colorado STEM endorsement on my high school diploma. I am also a part of the organization GOALS on Rivers Wavemakers, which is a group of youth engaged in activism for healthy rivers and river ecology through the destruction of dams. In addition to these involvements, I also organized a Ride-A-Thon style fundraiser in 2020 with the support of a local bike team and raised several thousand dollars for the Navajo Nation and White Mountain Apache Tribe to support these communities during the time of COVID, an action that I believe is intersectionally connected to environmental health. 

I view my involvement in these activities as a way to give back to the land and resources that have given me awesome experiences playing outside, learning about the world and connecting with friends and family. I am a passionate mountain biker, nordic skier and river person, and my passion for these elements in my life also fuels my environmental activism. 

This fall I’m heading to Durango to attend Fort Lewis College studying Environmental Science, Adventure Education and Indigenous Studies, as well as pursue a River Studies certificate. I also will be on the Fort Lewis College Cycling Team. I’m very pumped for all that I am going to learn and experience in college. From the lessons I will collect in higher education, I one day hope to become an “Adventure Scientist”, which is a person who goes out into the backcountry to collect hard-to-obtain data on expeditions and use that data to conserve natural resources and educate others. Receiving the Grossman Scholarship is an enormous support to me as I move forward to new experiences learning and growing in college. 



Thank you so much for using your time to get to know me today and I encourage you to volunteer with VOC and give back to our public lands. 

Lia is one of six students to receive VOC's Grossman Scholarship for the 2022-23 school year. VOC offers two $10,000 and four $5,000 scholarships annually to eligible Colorado residents who have demonstrated a commitment to caring for our environment's natural resources and intend to pursue post-secondary education through an accredited environmental, natural resource, climate, or outdoor industry related education program in Colorado.

Applications for the 2023-24 school year will open in October 2022.