Bradley Rosendorf

Partial Transcript: So my name is Bradley Rosendorf and I work at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program. What I do is as the Education and Outreach Associate, I reach out into the community and try to connect urban youth with nature and develop Everglades environmental education programs with the schools and different organizations throughout the community.

Partial Transcript: Right now, we have been developing Everglades programs with some of the schools up in Palm Beach County and with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. I went to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School myself and, for me, trying to connect the Everglades education with some of the kids at the school, I think that's like a really cool thing to do, and Everglades education that's something that everyone in the community, we all need to be engaged with so for me it's personal and professional; but we work with Boys and Girls Club different locations up in Palm Beach County, an organization called the Milagro Center in Delray Beach that helps kids throughout the community, and we go out and do Everglades presentations for the kids and try to develop ways to get the kids to the refuge to experience the Everglades and develop that connection with the landscape. For me, being out in the Everglades is exciting every day so it is really exciting work for me. I love every bit of it!

Partial Transcript: Well, I think that for some of the kids in the community, I think some of the youth did think about Marjory and who she was; I think that has been, for some, a source of inspiration. It’s just, right now, what happened at the school, it’s not like this happened a long time ago. Everyone in the community is somewhat still reeling from what happened and going through the process of, for a lot of people, not being able to accept what occurred there and I think it’s sort of hard to articulate and put into words the feeling of shock that everyone is still dealing with. That’s really the best way that I could explain what I have seen that is going on in our community.

Partial Transcript: I think that Marjory would want all of us to get fired up to champion her cause for saving the Everglades; she was a very fiery lady and today it was very exciting to see the lady who knew her, Maggie, speak about Marjory, and it takes people, it takes individuals who are really, really fired up about something and who have tremendous passion and love and determination in order to be able to communicate the importance of things to others in the community. When it comes to Everglades things, it's Marjory; I think she wanted to instill in all of us, that we should be determined and, even if we feel discouraged, to just dig in deeper and fight. Marjory was a truly indispensable person and the legacy of Marjory Stoneman Douglas is still alive today and when you see so many people come together from all different walks of life, to join together to fight for different things in the Everglades today; right now, that message is just as important as ever, or more important than ever as South Florida goes through all different issues, with water quality and development; we need to really, really think long and hard about what can we all do together to save the Everglades for the wildlife and for the people of Florida, for the public health of South Florida The Everglades ecosystem is one -of -a -kind in the world and it's a magical, magical place.
I think we all need to carry on her legacy.

These things with the Everglades are very serious, and sometimes we need to sort of rattle people’s cages and ruffle some feathers to articulate things to people throughout the community about the Everglades, about restoration, about water quality, and sometimes we have to tell people things they don't want to hear and explain to them that coming to the Everglades is not just about going for a nice stroll and seeing some pretty birds. When you come to the Everglades you need to learn about what you can do to save the Everglades, and I think that's really critical.