

You can feel the dopamine hit," she said. When you find a new bird, it's exhilarating. "I knew nature and the environment would be therapeutic. To go back to doing what she loved as a kid. Hawkins was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2021, and during intensive outpatient therapy, she was encouraged It's great to be around people like that. I can have a blurry photo, and they'll take one look and identify it rightĪway. Rokita and Block have become mentors to Hawkins. He's so open, kind and knowledgeable," she said. "Lester volunteered to be the advisor, and I couldn't have asked for a better person. The Stockton Birding Club she was working to create. Their visit turned into a tour of the lab and Hawkins found a staff advisor for Lester Block, a professional services specialist in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. They collected the specimen and walked it to the vivarium, where they met Rokita and

Bree Hawkins, a sophomore Environmental Studies and Language and Culture Studies double major, was walking from class with Justin Andell when they found a veery,Ī cinnamon-colored thrush, laying lifeless on the ground beneath the expanse of windows
