Oxnard Young Ecologists - OYE!

OYE! Our people make us more sucessfuL

From SAMO Youth Participant to Running A Program: Introducing Desserie Vasquez

Desserie (Dez) Vasquez is in a unique position to excite the interests of conservation and nature in teenagers who have grown up in cities. Dez describes how she grew up in a concrete jungle and never imagined she would work outdoors. Last summer, Dez was a SAMO Youth participant. A few months later, after impressing supervisors, she was hired for the role of the "OYE!" Oxnard Young Ecologist Assistant Lead. She helps to facilitate the "OYE!" Program activities for Oxnard high school students, while at the same time she is developing her own skills and passion in ecology.
 
Working with kids just like herself and igniting their interest in the outdoors has made her position incredibly humbling and exciting. “It has been a full circle moment for me because now I am the one driving the van and facilitating activities with Oxnard high school students, which is incredibly rewarding," said Dez. Dez became licensed to drive a commercial passenger van for the job, which required 85 hours of studying and training.

She wants to continue her passion of merging disadvantaged communities and nature “...especially with students who come from a neighborhood just like mine. I see myself in them and hope to continue to spark their interest in the outdoors,” Dez is an undergraduate student at California State University Northridge where she majors in Biology and minors in Chicano Studies.