Cynthia Tina (BAS ‘15) lives in an ecovillage in Massachusetts and is exploring ecovillages as physical expressions of the worldview of the “interconnection” that we need to experience in order to move beyond the separation that characterizes many mainstream lives. She feels that this shift in consciousness is at the heart of creating change in the world.

Goddard’s low-residency educational model enables Cynthia to travel the world to study the subjects she is passionate about. Last summer while attending the Global Ecovillage Summit in Switzerland, she was elected to be the Executive Director of NextGEN (Next Global Ecovillage Network) USA, “a global alliance of emerging Ecovillage Ambassadors and Sustainability Educators.”

This spring, she is spending a month at the Ecovillage Design Education program in Nicaragua. For more about her work at NextGEN and to learn about the first-ever Youth Ecovillage Summit that will take place April 24-27, 2014 at the Sirius Community in Massachusetts, see the website she has created at: www.nextgenna.org.

Cynthia is the recipient of Goddard’s 2014 Sustainability Entrepreneurs’ Grant. She will use the grant to develop the Sustainability Educators’ Program at NextGEN by designing a curriculum and training young people to host educational events, reach out to student groups, and teach the social, economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions of communal regenerative living.

Cynthia says, “We are a team of youth working for youth, igniting the power of the next generation, and inspiring the emergence of a new world.”