Risa is a junior at the University of Washington majoring in Environmental Studies. Risa started working with environmental justice at sixteen years old with the Clean Water Ambassadors from King County and Mountains to Sound Greenway who mentored Risa in writing grants. While still a student at Kent-Meridian High School, she wrote a letter of intent to the King County WaterWorks Program to build a rain garden on KM campus and started the grant process for the project. Her motivation was borne from a desire to give students equitable access to urban green space and being a project that is created for and by students.

Risa interned as a Project Manager Intern for World Relief Western Washington during her freshman year in college. Then as a UW Sophmore, she served as a Youth Seat Member for the GrIP Steering Committee. Currently, Risa is a Recycling and Composting Outreach Intern for Seattle Public Utilities and working to create a GSI start-up, ReuMo. From her experiences as an immigrant coupled with her work experience in non-profit organizations and journey of knowledge at UW, Risa became aware of the disparity in the quality of life between people and is motivated to work toward a more equitable world leading to a sustainable world. Her favorite plant in the rain garden is the English Lavender.

One thing she’d like for current and future KM students to know: Working hard is important to having a good life in the long term, but don’t forget to enjoy life in the short term.

Elisha was the KM environmental club president from 2019 to 2021 (her sophomore to senior year). She had taken on the Rain Garden and Cistern project for the Environmental Club. She helped write, manage, and facilitate the grants, students, and building of the rain garden. She never thought she would be in the environmental field but was inspired by the impact of the rain garden and cistern project and put her heart into working for it. She currently goes to the University of Washington and is majoring in Environmental Science and Terrestrial Management. She is also a 2022-2023 undergraduate council member for the Student Advisory Board for the UW School of Environmental and Forestry Sciences and is an outreach officer for a UW hydroponics indoor farm.

During her time at KM, she had done a Project Manager internship with World Relief Western Washington at Paradise Parking Plots in her junior year until her freshmen year in college. She has also been an intern for Sustainability Ambassadors, starred in two City of Kent Planet Protector Summit videos, scripted and starred in a Rain Garden and Bioretention Monitoring video, been a GrIP (Green Infrastructure Partnership) youth-seat committee member, spoken at two Green Infrastructure summits, and much more. Her work with the rain garden and cistern is never done and her favorite plant in the rain garden is the Oregon Grape.

One thing she’d like for current and future KM students to know: Even if it’s hard, don’t give up. Create opportunities for yourself and find what you’re passionate about!

Jake Harris - Owner at Stone Soup Gardens & Design Team

Jake has enjoyed his many pursuits in life as an educator, a community organizer, a bag monster, and a general contractor. For the past 9 years, he has devoted himself to the application of Whole Systems Design and Permaculture Principles. Jake has received a community education working with his hands, and is currently serving on the board for GrIP (Green Infrastructure Partnership.) He has studied the farms, forests, and gardens of the lovely PNW as well as Ecuador, Australia, Palestine, Israel, and throughout the USA. Jake loves getting to work on projects that advocate beautiful solutions right in our own gardens. This includes issues of climate change, peak oil, declining pollinator and wildlife habitat, water pollution, and access to sustainable food. He is overjoyed to share these pursuits with a great team, his wonderful wife Emma, his lovely daughter Luna, and their fabulous chickens.