Environmental issues are becoming increasingly important around the world, and Honors student Phil Ferguson could be seen as a real-life Captain Planet. Aside from his school-work, research and extra-curricular activities, Phil is actively doing his part to learn about and help sustain the environment.
Phil is a junior Geography major with a double-minor in Biology and Environmental Studies. Phil was initially drawn to the Honors Program because of his sister’s encouragement and positive experiences with the Program when she attended Illinois State University. Phil realized that the Honors Program would increase the caliber of his course work and would also give him a more serious workload. “It was a great experience for my sister and it just really works in order to get a lot of extra experiences and accomplishments,” Phil mentioned.
Phil is currently Co-Vice President of the Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO Club), which is a student run environmental advocacy and activism group. The ECO Club actively works to make an impact around campus by attempting to change students’ attitudes about the environment. The ECO Club, along with some of his Honors projects and side experiences, has given Phil a more in-depth exploration of environmentalism. “I’ve done a lot of work related to the environment and I’ve been able to really focus on doing a lot of projects on the side. [These projects have enabled me] to find my way and figure out what way I want to be involved in environmentalism and how I want to use that in my future career,” Phil commented.
Although Phil is engaged in quite a few “side projects,” he has focused quite a bit of his attention on some very significant environmental projects. One of his projects consisted of making a poster on “Sustainability Day,” which was a day that he went out on the quad and encouraged students to pledge to be more sustainable. Once each student was hooked, he or she read a pledge and then Phil and his team gave that student information on how to become more sustainable. In return for pledging, each student was also given a bracelet that symbolized the cause. “It got the word out about what sustainable means and it got knowledge out about our group on campus. I also learned a lot about environmental activism through that,” Phil said.
During the spring, summer, and fall of 2008, Phil took on the role of a research assistant for Dr. Johanna Haas. Phil worked diligently to collect information in support of Dr. Haas’ research on energy development in rural areas of Appalachia and Alaska, but he also collected information that pertained to his research interests. In the summer of 2008, Phil was awarded an Honors Summer Research Grant and had the opportunity to travel with Dr. Haas to Anchorage, Alaska, to collect documents, photos and more information. Aside from being able to travel, Phil focused much of his time researching and compiling data for his upcoming research presentation. Phil will give a presentation on the “Comparison of Environmental Philosophies between American Environmentalists and the Yup’ik People of Western Alaska,” at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in April 2009. “The Honors Research Grant really helped me out as far as getting the work done in the summer, [enabling me to] work with my faculty mentor, and helping me to be able to research about all of these interesting things. It was just really helpful,” Phil commented. Phil also mentioned that he learned a great deal about environmentalism, gained insight into what has been happening in the world, and really built a positive relationship with his faculty mentor. “The Honors Program has really encouraged me to do a lot of extra things that have become extremely useful, and my relationship with my faculty mentor has been incredibly useful as well. She’s really putting a lot of effort into teaching me these things and I’m really lucky,” Phil stated.
In addition to his experience with environmental activism and research, Phil has also been a member of the Medieval Combat Club and served as a Resident Assistant (RA). The Medieval Combat Club is Illinois State’s team in a national medieval combat reenactment sport, and you may even see Phil practicing on the quad! In fall of 2007, Phil was selected to be an RA for the Geo-Environmental Lifestyle Floor on campus. “Being in an authority position was a really good experience as far as learning the hardships and benefits of being in that position, and also just all of the different details that need to be worked out when you’re doing that [type of job],” Phil mentioned.
When asked if he would use his experiences with Honors in his future career, Phil simply stated, “There’s no way I couldn’t.” He believes the Honors Program has really inspired him and has provided him with a good fundamental support structure. “The things I have done have been inspired and supported by the Honors Program, and the Honors Program has really become so much a part of me and has helped form an understanding about these things I care about. It has helped me learn about environmentalism, helped me to do leadership positions, and has enabled me to do research. It’s become a very fundamental part of my undergraduate education and experience.”
His advice for future students? “Just go in and use the things the Honors Program has for you. When you work on a project, you get to make it what you want to be and then it’s totally dependent on you as to how good it’s going to be, so you get connected to it in a way that you can’t get connected to in a class. Definitely get involved with those kinds of things outside of class.”
written by: Sasha Boheme