Autumn Brunelle graduated from Cass Lake-Bena Highschool in

Cass Lake, MN as valedictorian. At Cass Lake-Bena, she was the

captain of the volleyball, basketball, and softball team. She was

also the first chair alto saxophone in her band, was on the

speech team, and was the president of her graduating class,

president of the National Honor Society, a student

representative on the Cass Lake-Bena school board, and

president of student council. Autumn broke numerous school

records on her softball team including: academic all-state, and

most strike-outs pitched in a season and a career. At

Dartmouth, Autumn plans to major in Environmental Studies

with a minor in Native American Studies. She is currently

assisting her professor with research on climate change. She plays intramural sports, a member

of the Dartmouth College Marching Band, as well as Kappa Delta Sorority. After graduating,

Autumn hopes to attend graduate school for conservation.

Autumn was funded by the Rockefeller Center for a Spring 2014 Internship, with generous

support from the John French Memorial Internship Fund.

Executive Summary from Autumn’s final report:

The Center for Environmental Leadership (CELT), is a non-profit organization and

educational branch of the Climate Institute. CELT’s mission is to provide solutions for those

affected by climate change, specifically indigenous coastal communities. As the spring 2014

Outreach Coordinator, my role was to bring awareness to climate issues that indigenous coastal

communities are facing today, and to recruit both Dartmouth students and Native American

students to CELT. While in this position, I held

numerous luncheons and informational sessions for

Native American students at Dartmouth, as well as for

the general Dartmouth community. The largest event

that I held was an informational session that included

the latest updates from the Climate Institute and CELT,

and our plan to establish connections between Tuck

Business School, Thayer Engineering School, Dartmouth

[JOHN FRENCH MEMORIAL FUND PUBLIC POLICY INTERN PROFILE]

“This new knowledge, sense of

purpose and dedication have

motivated me to consider a

career in law and ensure that I am

always trying to grow personally

and better the world around me.”

College, and Tribal colleges across the country. This event also included talks from CELT fellows

regarding their research around the world on indigenous coastal communities and climate

change, and a talk from the president of CELT and the Climate Institute: John Topping Jr.

Aside from holding events, I also was given the opportunity to participate in the Indigenous

Peoples Climate Change Working Group in Boulder, Colorado. While at this conference, I was

able to promote CELT’s idea of partnering with tribal colleges, and I was able to listen to first-

hand experience from indigenous communities most affected by climate change. As a follow-up

to this conference, I wrote a blog post for the home page of the Climate Institute, and created

numerous video clips of indigenous leaders with the hopes of creating a short film that will be

used to fund projects for indigenous communities struggling with impacts of climate change.

This internship helped me to understand the inner workings of a non-profit, which is

important to my professional career goals. I have always been interested in the concepts of

non-profit organizations, however, I had never been involved with one. Working for CELT, I was

very much exposed to the triumphs and tribulations of working for a non-profit organization. I

now better understand how a non-profit can impact the world. This also helped me to have

better judgment on where I want to go with my professional work. I would love to thank the

Rockefeller Center for the opportunity to participate in such an internship and I would like to

thank the John French Memorial internship as well as the members of the Class of 1930 and the

friends and family of Mr. John French for supporting my internship opportunity. Without that

help, I would not have been able to participate in the CELT internship and I would have missed

out on extremely valuable skills and lessons that I obtained through the internship.

Autumn and Dr. Dan Wildcat after the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Working Group conference in Boulder, Colorado.