Meet Emma Sondker, AmeriCorps Member

My name is Emma Sondker and I am the new AmeriCorps member of Idaho FireWise. I am serving for the next 5.5 months on a joint project of the Palouse Land Trust and Idaho FireWise. My official title is the Outreach and Community Engagement Assistant. I started serving near the end of March and am looking forward to being involved in all the events and projects Idaho FireWise is working on this summer. I hope you will join us! I am very excited to have this opportunity to learn more about wildfire safety and working with the public.

Throughout my life, I have been very involved with my community through Girl Scouts and music. I was in Girl Scouts for 13 years and was often planning events and volunteering at Girl Scout camps. I loved being able to help others and to give them a great experience. In high school, I joined a youth symphony that performed for events, the public and schools. I also helped mentor younger musicians. Frequent outdoor actives, like hiking and camping with my family helped grow my love for the outdoors. I was very interested in learning about wildlife and I would try to catch salamanders, even though I was terrible at it. Observing my father’s work, at a non-profit health organization, showed me the difference non-profits make in the community. He gave me tours of the health clinics and told me what the organization did and how it helped people.

I graduated from the University of Idaho this past December with a B.S degree in environmental science and a B.S in applied music performance. I am most passionate about conservation, wildlife, and habitat restoration. I am still trying to figure out exactly what career path I want, but I could not ask for a better organization to teach me about how people and wildfire interact. I am honored to be a part of AmeriCorps because of the support they give programs and organizations who help local communities. Idaho is a beautiful state and I am thrilled to be educating the community on how to live with wildfire and work towards creating wildfire resilient communities.