Chloe Reilly
UC Santa Cruz Chapter
By: Jessica Martin, SDSU Chapter Member
Meet Chloe Reilly, our Member Spotlight for the month of March! Chloe is a fourth year student at UC Santa Cruz double majoring in Environmental Studies and Biology. After she graduates, she will be attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland to pursue a Masters of Science in Animal Behavior. After she completes her Masters degree, she hopes to pursue a PhD program in wildlife conservation research and ultimately work to blend all of her education together to solve wildlife conservation issues.
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Chloe joined WSS in 2018 and was a founding member of the WSS- UC Santa Cruz Chapter. As a freshman, she found herself longing for a club that balanced science with a fun social aspect. WSS has been all that and more. She has found a community in WSS where younger students are able to seek advice, there is endless support of all academic and scientific endeavors, and friendships thrive. To Chloe, WSS is all about women growing together as scientists and people, and she is now proudly serving as the Vice President of her Chapter!
Outside of classes, Chloe volunteers at the Pinniped Cognition and Sensory Systems Lab at UC Santa Cruz. As a volunteer, she gets the opportunity to learn about marine mammal care, research and conservation. She feels as though WSS workshops such as CV/Resume and Interview workshops helped her achieve this position. Being involved in WSS and a lab concurrently has ensured that she is always surrounded by a supportive scientific community, enabling her to be a stronger scientist every day.
Chloe’s biggest piece of advice to fellow women in science is to apply for internships or programs that you are interested in! She had the amazing opportunity to complete a summer internship with the Conservation Department at the Oakland Zoo after her freshman year of college, where she was able to get hands-on experience in the field by helping out with local conservation projects as well as the motivation and inspiration she needed to push through hard classes later in her degree. This experience also encouraged her to apply to labs at UC Santa Cruz, and her time in the Wildlife Ecology and Global Change Lab inspired her to pursue graduate school. Long story short, pursue what you are passionate about - it might just lead you down the right path!
The UC Santa Cruz Chapter is fairly new, but Chloe and the rest of the Executive Team are extremely passionate about fundraising and creating a lasting community that fully embodies what WSS stands for. We can’t wait to see what they do as a Chapter in the future!