Olivia Gagliardi, (2010) who is currently studying Conservation Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, recently visited Africa to help with ongoing research on big cats in Kruger National Park.
She helped on safaris by spotting the cats, taking photos to catalogue, marking GPS points and observing the mannerisms. Gagliardi learned a lot, not only about the big cats but about most of the animals in the park.
“Africa is an amazing place,” Gagliardi said. “I think that I may try to work there at some point in my life.”
Gagliardi is currently the vice president of the Society for Conservation Biology Syracuse Chapter. In the club she does a lot of volunteer work, such as helping out at the local wildlife rehabilitation center or removing invasive species of plants from a nature center near Syracuse. This past winter, Gagliardi went with the club to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands to do some volunteer work. In Ecuador she helped with some trail maintenance at the Zanja Arajuna Ecological Center, built a computer room for the school in the community she stayed in, and taught the children and adults of the community about recycling. In the Galapagos, Gagliardi worked on an organic farm planting trees that are used as nesting spots by an endangered species of finch.
Aside from Gagliardi’s work with wildlife, she is a captain of the ESF Women’s soccer team at her school. Gagliardi also goes biking or hiking with some of her friends up at school whenever possible. She also recently started doing a program with the Central New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (CNY-SPCA) where she takes some of the dogs in the shelter for a run a couple days a week to give them some exercise.
Gagliardi’s number one goal is to travel. She hopes to be accepted into the Peace Corp after graduation. Over the course of her life, Gagliardi wants to visit different countries, study animals and help communities as much as possible.
Being a part of S.H.A.R.E. and the Keystone club during high school was a big influence on Gagliardi. “It always amazed me how much just one club could do and how many people I could help by being part of them. It made me want to help people even more and opened my eyes to some of the issues people live with,” Gagliardi said.
Gagliardi especially remembers the people who led these clubs, history teacher Christopher Ward; retired history teacher, Patti Atkinson; and previous employee of The Boys & Girls Club of Hawthorne, Gissela Machado.
“And of course, overall it always feels great knowing you made someone’s day better or could possibly change someone’s life,” Gagliardi said.