Environmentalist and explorer

Caption:“MIT has given me more opportunities than I could have imagined as a prefrosh,” Senior Elizabeth Rider says. “I’ve traveled to new places and met new people that I wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to.” Photo: M. Scott Brauer

Rider is planning her next steps — either as an atmospheric scientist, environmental lawyer, or environmental policy maker. Either way, she will work for the environment. “It just feels very good to have my work mean something in people’s lives,” Rider says. Photo: M. Scott Brauer

By Kate Telma

Elizabeth Rider (MITES ’12) didn’t think much about college until she got a laptop. Then she discovered blogs and Tumblr accounts of other ambitious high school students who were applying to competitive schools, and she found the MIT Admissions blog. The websites gave her a better idea of what she was seeking for the next chapter of her life.

“I grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and I just sort of wanted to go somewhere else. To a bigger city, [with] more diverse people, more opportunities to learn, or to apply myself. In high school I was scrambling for opportunities and things to latch on to,” says Rider, now an MIT senior.

Read the full article on MIT News.