
MAJORS AND MINORS
- Math & Environmental Science Majors
- Chesapeake Regional Studies Minor
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
- Cater Society research on food security in Bermuda and comparing indigenous uses and beliefs about stones in South Dakota and Peru
- Center for Environment and Society Herbalism Internship; Chesapeake Semester
CAMPUS ACTIVITIES
- Campus Garden, head apiculturist; STEM Sisters
- Yoga Instructor; Quantitative Skills Center tutor
- “We want everyone to feel like the campus garden is their space. My freshman year, I was quiet and kind of reserved, and I really needed that community. In all these climate change studies, a lot of the solutions start with community-based practices, building community and trust with one another. This is how this happens: build this community of people who do care and who want to be together and who find joy in this.”

Studying and Addressing Climate Change
Rachel Beall '25
Columbia, MarylandMAJORS AND MINORS
- Math & Environmental Science Majors
- Chesapeake Regional Studies Minor
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
- Center for Environment and Society Herbalism Internship; Chesapeake Semester
CAMPUS ACTIVITIES
- Campus Garden, head apiculturist; STEM Sisters
- Yoga Instructor; Quantitative Skills Center tutor
- “We want everyone to feel like the campus garden is their space. My freshman year, I was quiet and kind of reserved, and I really needed that community. In all these climate change studies, a lot of the solutions start with community-based practices, building community and trust with one another. This is how this happens: build this community of people who do care and who want to be together and who find joy in this.”
Beall chose Washington College for its unique environmental offerings, especially
the Chesapeake Semester, and from the start she took advantage of opportunities from the Center for Environment
and Society (CES). During her sophomore year, a guest speaker that CES had brought
to campus mentioned the incomplete data being used in climate modeling in the polar
regions, and Beall felt this might be a problem she would like to work on in her career.
Remembering her high school teacher’s words and realizing that much of climate science
is driven by predictive modeling—effectively many interrelated and complex equations
using environmental data to understand large systems and their potential future states—Beall
added a math major to set herself up for graduate school.
“I like thinking about environmental science through the lens of predictive modeling
and how we can better understand how climate change might impact specific places like
a forest or how we can understand the impact of certain actions on the entire globe,”
Beall said.
Even as Beall has been adding academic studies that have taken her closer to her career
goals, her other activities on campus have expanded her view of the ways she can contribute
to the well-being of people and the planet.
“I feel so connected and grounded when I’m outside,” Beall said. “That passion, for
me, is what guides a lot of things.”
Beall got involved with the campus garden her first year at Washington and now serves
as the head apiculturist (beekeeper). She has an internship funded by CES in which
she is studying herbalism, and in the fall 2024 semester, she taught a special two-hour
workshop in herbal remedies to about 20 Washington students and others, helping them
to harvest and dry herbs, make tinctures, and make herb-infused oils for various wellness
goals. She also works for campus recreation as a yoga instructor and finds herself
getting others involved with the campus garden the way others did when she first arrived
at the College.
“We want everyone to feel like the campus garden is their space. My freshman year,
I was quiet and kind of reserved, and I really needed that community,” Beall said.
“In all these climate change studies, a lot of the solutions start with community-based
practices, building community and trust with one another. This is how this happens:
build this community of people who do care and who want to be together and who find
joy in this.”
— Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven