Sam’s roots in community science grow from field research with their Grandma as a child in the lahar fields of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption. There they saw the power of community knowledge and mutual aid with the land applied to scientific research. They work to support relationships to the land and natural science as a California Naturalist, former nurse, and as part of their community. They center their family’s traditional Indigenous ways of learning and connecting, including their experience as a parent to an awesome young child.