Student of the Week: Neil Kresge

In only his first year at Wilkes University, Neil Kresge has already made an impact on the campus, and it's starting to look a little greener.

Kresge recently served as a student coordinator and helped execute the Focus the Nation campaign alongside environmental science faculty and other staff members.

Kresge, an earth and environmental sciences major (EES), also minors in political science and sees a logical connection between the two, as evidenced by the political. social, and scientific messages of the nationwide campaign to address global warming. A transfer student from the Pennsylvania College of Technology, Kresge left there nearly three years ago to take some time off to work. Recently, he decided to go back to school and chose Wilkes. He is excited to be here and really hoping to make more people aware of environmental issues on campus. Because of his active role in educating fellow students and Wilkes community members about environmental problems, The Beacon has chosen Neil Kresge as its Student of the Week.

The Beacon: Why did you decide to come to Wilkes out of all the other schools you looked at?

Kresge: I decided to come to Wilkes because they specifically tailored a program that let me major in environmental science while taking a political science minor.

The Beacon: Are you happy with what Wilkes has given you so far?

Kresge: I am very happy with Wilkes. I interviewed at other schools and they were really one of the few that were willing to work with me and tailor a specific program. So I am very happy with the staff and the department chair. Everybody's been really helpful.

The Beacon: How do you feel about your work on the Focus the Nation campaign?

Kresge: This is my first big rallying objective here at Wilkes. It kind of blends political activism with the growing science accomplishments Wilkes is making, so I feel like that's a big one right off the bat.

The Beacon: So Focus the Nation was one of your primary goals at Wilkes?

Kresge: Well it's not just the Focus the Nation as a specific event. It's the whole idea of educating people on global climate change and just showing people that there's ways to reduce their normal waste day in and day out. That's going to help in the long run because this problem is going to impact our generation the hardest and our kids' generation. Just bringing that to the forefront and making that a real spot to be pointed out is what I want to do here.

The Beacon: Were you happy with the way Focus the Nation turned out?

Kresge: I was. We probably had 400 to 500 students at the event. We had overflow in Stark 101.

The Beacon: What are some other plans you would like to tackle?

Kresge: Well I would really like to get involved with more political activism and get Wilkes University signatures and emails to try and guide Governor Rendell towards his environmental plan that has been sitting on the back burner for about two years. So I think that is maybe going to be one of our next challenges to get legislation passed that is going to make quality of life better here in Pennsylvania.

The Beacon: What do you want to do when you graduate?

Kresge: Right now I am kind of in between. I'm thinking about graduate school. Either graduate school or I would like to get involved with activism. I want to apply science objectivity to policy, you know, political leadership in this country.