Student Service Spotlight: Haylei Peart
Pace University students are hardworking and ambitious. This fact is no surprise to the many reading this. Some students just go above and beyond this description. “I am actually considering the 3 plus 3 program which I would skip senior year and go straight into my legal studies”, Haylei Peart says with a serious earnestness. “I hope to work for the federal government, or do something on my own. Kind of just focusing on sustainable policies, and sustainable living as a whole.”
Haylei is currently working with a group of concerned citizens in Westchester County that are working to create a Geographical Inventory System, or as the committee calls it shorthand, the G.I.S. “They are looking specifically at their resources, and creating…an inventory of the resources in their jurisdiction.” She describes this complex project with a passion and urgency because she knows how important the inventory is. There are a lot of environmental variables in Westchester County: This inventory would help inform better environmental policy. Vital resources need to be protected, but we need to know what resources we have to protect in the first place. This committee ties back to Haylei’s studies at Pace. “I am researching policy and the relationship to open space and green space…where we are really looking in the future in terms of land conservation, and if we are going to have parks in the future.”
Haylei’s passion for environmental work was a direct result of taking A.P. Environmental Science in high school. “I was always environmentally conscious, but I didn’t want my career… in it. Once I realized it was a real thing I went all in for it.” It becomes very clear what drove her towards law when she really digs in to explain what she wants to accomplish in her life. “It sounds corny, but (I) kind of just like opening everyone’s eyes up. It is something we can all do collectively, and not just one small person do it. All the small changes I make in my life aren’t going to make any difference to what’s going on. But if we do it collectively it will really make a difference.” She believes we’re all in this together, but without legal changes, we won’t have a fighting chance against the environmental problems we face. “We need to change our diet, we need to change how we produce and manufacture things, and no one is really willing to do that yet.”
Haylei’s positivity when talking about such heavy topics gives you a feeling of hope. She knows she’s just one person, but she still fights the good fight in the local community and within the Pace Community. “I do the energy competition on campus…trying to raise awareness.” She knows we have a lot of big problems we’re going to have to face as global citizens to survive in a future with limited resources and climate change. “Ideally everyone would be a vegetarian. Everyone would live in tiny little homes”, she said. Haylei gives one small suggestion that we can all accommodate with little effort.
“Hummers shouldn’t exist”.
We can all do our part to make sure they don’t.
