Melissa Rice ’12

Hometown: Rockville, Maryland

Melissa Rice stumbled into Maryland’s Montgomery County Student Environmental Activists (MCSEA) --a student-run group of high school activists--at her high school activity fair. She’d read about everyday Americans changing the environment, but as part of MCSEA, “I was able to change the world myself,” she said.

“In 2006, MCSEA lobbied, petitioned, and organized a successful campaign for our county government to buy renewable energy credits,” said Rice, who served as MCSEA’s president her junior and senior years. “That first campaign victory--the largest purchase of clean energy by any county in America--showed me that students could, and did, change the world.”

Rice broadened her experience further by attending a student leadership program hosted by the Sierra Student Coalition. She discovered she loves public speaking and lobbying, whether talking to a county council member, a Maryland state delegate, or a classmate in Model United Nations. After visiting MHC, Rice said she “was floored and even a bit envious of the eloquence and confidence of the students and faculty.”

“I hope to major in environmental studies, but more importantly, I want to be a college activist,” she said.