Julie Byle M.S., is doctoral student in Dr. Laurel Hartley's lab with the department of Integrative and Systems Biology and a recipient of the 2019 Fall Graduate Student Travel Award. She has just returned from speaking on the panel at the North American Association for Environmental Education national conference in Lexington, Kentucky.  Here, she shared her research experiences connecting unrepresented youth to nature through designing culturally contextual STEM education programs and developing best practices for engaging youth in environmental citizenship. She is grateful to the CU Integrative and Systems Biology department and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for their generous travel support. If you are interested in adding broader impacts to your research through K-12 education, citizen science, and community action projects please contact Julie: Julie.byle@ucdenver.edu