Current SMEA student, Andrea Richter-Sanchez ’23 will be spending her summer with the Surfrider Foundation, an organization “dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves and beaches, for all people, through a powerful activist network”.

Richter-Sanchez will be serving as the Coasts and Climate Graduate student intern, and will hold the position for the duration of the ten week internship beginning in June and ending in August, before returning to SMEA for Fall Quarter. Her role will be working with the Coastal and Climate Senior Manger to contribute to the development of the 2022 State of the Beach Report. She will be conducting policy research and analysis on documents related to climate change, sea level rise planning, development regulations, sediment management, and coastal armoring. She will also be assisting in the development of climate change fact sheets and White Papers. The internship will also entail managing Surfrider’s Coastal blog and working with communities on coastal issues.

She shares, “This opportunity is the perfect intersection between my natural science background and the policy I have learned while being in SMEA. I am excited to work with such an incredible foundation on issues that are important to me and the issues that led me to want to study at SMEA.”