An Interview with Sophie Scheule
Sophie Schuele is a young, biracial, female activist who will be entering college as a first-year student this fall. She started her climate justice journey at Cheverus High School where she enjoyed connecting with nature, participated in the Environmental Action Team, and was most notably a member of the school’s outing club. This outing club interaction is what initially introduced her to Maine Environmental Changemakers network.
In 2019, Sophie was directed by a faculty member of the outing club to apply to be a youth planning team member and that is where her journey with Changemakers began. She secured the position and from there attended many planning meetings, connecting with the other planning team members. She also served on the planning team for the following Gathering in 2019, furthering her connection with Changemakers. After the Gathering, she was provided with more opportunities to organize and participate in similar forums.
Sophie’s time with Changemakers was incredible, but the best part was the people she was able to meet. Through participating in meetings and organizing events, she was exposed to a wide community of youth who not only care about the same things as her, but were also all from different parts of the state with vastly different backgrounds and experiences. These interactions with other youth allowed her to have open and diverse dialogue about experiences they shared. In particular, she was able to discuss the intersection of climate change and racism in the context of her life. She never felt like she had the ability to talk about either side of her biracial identity until she met fellow youth climate activists who were also biracial and shared similar experiences. Connecting with these Changemakers was a huge part of her experience with MEEA as an organization. Sophie shared that MEEA has the ability to facilitate such diverse gatherings where conversations about race and climate change are encouraged, and this is a huge accomplishment that has impacted her life forever.
In addition to the experiences Sophie had with the youth in Changemakers, she also had similarly great experiences with the network’s adult mentors. When she participated in conversations or gave her input, she felt just as respected as the adults in the room. These experiences made her feel powerful and gave her the confidence to speak her mind and voice her true opinions. Sophie felt as though she was heard by a widely intergenerational group of people during her work with Changemakers, which helped her understand the meaning of her voice and her power to make change.
Changemakers provided Sophie with a type of diversity she had never experienced before, especially living in Maine, that was incredibly inclusive in all respects. The network created a space that was comfortable for her to talk about deep, emotional topics that intersected with climate change and helped her pursue her passion for renewable energy and climate justice. Her work with Changemakers made her realize everything has an impact and that everyone needs to be aware of their impact on the world. Additionally, meeting fellow Changemakers helped her to stay hopeful for a green future and motivated her to get more people involved within the climate space.
While Sophie is going away for college this fall, she hopes to stay in communication with MEEA and be involved where she can. She also wants others to be able to have the same opportunities and experiences she did. She hopes MEEA can continue to grow and shape youth into leaders in the climate justice movement.
—By Changemaker Summer Organizer, Mei Strout
