Fresno cohort
My name is Alonso Santos-Gonzalez. I am a second generation Mexican-American who was born and raised in Fresno, CA. I am proud of my Mexican roots and proud to call Fresno my home. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to live in the East Bay, and spend time with my extended family that lives there, while attending UC Berkeley. I am passionate about environmental issues that impact California, and especially the Central Valley where environmental racism and injustices impact many of our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. After living on the East Coast for the past year working on conservation projects, I returned to Fresno and started getting involved with local groups working to solve many of these problems. I enjoy being challenged by new experiences professionally and through traveling and meeting new people. Although travel is put on hold for now, I do love being with my family and spending time with them. My other passion outside of the environment is music. I love to play guitar and other instruments and I write songs, often inspired by my experiences in life and in the outdoors. I am still trying to find where I fit in the environmental field and I am looking forward to building my skillset and learning how I can contribute to building BIPOC representation in the environment and in Fresno through the Outdoors Educators Institute.