In July 2023, Quinn Riordan was working at the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center as part of a summer research opportunity when she briefly stepped away from her duties to check her email. Results for the 2023-24 selection of the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service were expected soon.
"All of July, I was checking my email more often than usual," Riordan said. "Although I never really thought I'd get it."
But she did. Nationwide, 100 Voyager students were chosen as part of the program's second cohort, and Riordan—then a junior in Michigan Tech's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science—was one of them. Now, the applied ecology and environmental science major is jump-starting her public service career with a scholarship designed to shape tomorrow's leaders.
The Voyager Scholarship was created by Barack and Michelle Obama and Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. Its goal is to foster exposure to new places and experiences, and generate understanding, empathy, and cooperation that can equip the next generation to create meaningful change.
The scholarship includes up to $25,000 per year in last-dollar financial aid for recipients' junior and senior years, and provides a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing to fund a six-week Summer Voyage between their junior and senior year. Voyager students also take part in an ongoing speaker series and attend an annual fall summit.
The scholarship includes more benefits after Riordan graduates: a 10-year travel stipend of $2,000 per year in Airbnb travel credits, ensuring she's able to continue growing and making connections as she pursues her chosen career. And, membership in the Obama Foundation's global community, with access to continued resources and leadership development programs.
Riordan was elated to discover she'd been chosen for the scholarship, and didn't keep the news to herself for long. Her first call was to family. "They had been rooting for me," she said. "And family was how I found out about the scholarship in the first place."
Riordan said her family has always promoted her interest in the outdoors. That's what led her to Michigan Tech. "I have an outdoorsy family. I was always in the water, always outside," she said. In addition to canoe trips and visits to national parks, Riordan participated in outdoors programs for students in her Minneapolis hometown, many specifically designed to provide members of historically underserved communities with access and opportunities in the outdoors. She also participated in precollege programs that helped her decide on a career focus.
"I found out about Tech through the Youth Conservation Corps," she said. "When I was out on Isle Royale, I met Rolf Peterson (co-leader of the Isle Royale wolf-moose study). He actually grew up down the street from where I live in Minneapolis. He told me what he does at Tech, about Fall Camp and all the amazing projects here," she said.
Riordan followed up with a tour of campus and the College. "I could see myself here," she said. "It just made sense to go into ecology." And, as a Tech student, her experience has only made her more certain about her career path. "I took veg (North American Vegetation) and said, 'I want to do this for the rest of my life!'"
Deciding on a public service career was also an obvious choice, as Riordan realized that's what she's been doing all along. "All of my work experience has been based around public service," she said, referencing jobs in or with national parks, including a fellowship with Mississippi Park Connection and the Youth Conservation Corps.
For her Summer Voyage in 2024, Riordan wanted to explore accessibility and inclusivity in agriculture and conservation for underserved minority communities and voices. She chose to travel and live in Ecuador for three months as an intern for Ekorural, a non-governmental organization that works alongside communities seeking to increase their capacity to improve food production, income generation, and community health.
"Overall, what I learned the most after this summer was about the strength and loyalty of rural farming communities in the Andes," said Riordan, who also enjoyed getting to know her Airbnb host and discovered how much she enjoys a daily routine. "On a personal note, I learned a lot about asking for help. I struggled at the beginning of my trip with figuring out how much I could lean on my coworkers and my family at home for moral support. I learned that living in one place and creating a routine to get to know the community is my preference."
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
