Kara-Lyn Moran, Environmental Studies and Religious Studies ’22

Kara-Lyn Moran has always enjoyed the outdoors and classes that took her outside the classroom. While growing up, she always felt calmed and fascinated by the outdoors and was always reading and learning about the world around her. She even received a subscription to National Geographic as a gift for her 16th birthday. Her interest in the environment was fueled by her AP Environmental Science class in high school, but she did not decide to pursue it as a major until her sophomore year at Lafayette. She decided to pursue Environmental Studies because of the connection and emphasis on how humans interact, shape and change the environment.

She is also double majoring in Religious Studies. During her time at Lafayette she was able to take a variety of courses in Environmental Studies and other interrelated departments that exposed her to different topics and professors, some of her favorites have included Introduction to the Environment, Pursuing Global Sustainability and Environmental Geology. While in the spring of her junior year, she had the opportunity to go abroad to Copenhagen and learn about the Scandinavian approach to sustainability. She took a wide variety of classes including Environmental Philosophy, Sustainable Design, and a focus on Sustainable Food.

She was able to travel around Denmark and visit biodynamic and organic farms, as well as many sustainable restaurants in Copenhagen, culminating in a dinner at Amass Restaurant, one of the most sustainable restaurants in the world. In addition to academics, on campus Kara-Lyn is the captain of the college cheerleading team, leader of YoungLife, an admissions ambassador, a member of LOsT (the college outdoors club) and Marquis Players (a student run non-profit theater club). In the summer of 2021 she completed an internship with Wildlands Conservancy,  the Lehigh valley’s premier non-profit land trust as an Environmental Education intern. Past years working with kids and counselling at summer camps along with her passion for the environment lead her to this position. Her future plans include a joint honors thesis in her senior year, graduate school and working at an environmental non-profit.