Kaleigh Potter ’25

Why UNE

The hands-on experience I have at UNE is so much better than I could have had anywhere else. When I first toured UNE, I learned about all the cool environmental science labs offered here. That’s when I first heard about the bird-banding class. And now I’m able to go outside every morning and work with birds.

[At UNE], we can participate in research as a first year freshman. I toured a couple other schools [with environmental programs] and all of their cool labs and projects were mainly for juniors and seniors. Here [at UNE], I was able to jump right into the action.

Exceptional Teaching and Learning

[UNE’s] professors are great. Every professor I’ve had here is super passionate about what they do. They love being here. And my professors also just love talking to students. If I have a question after class, we’ll just stay talking about all things environmental science.

In addition to bird banding, I’m currently in a Plant Systematics course so I’ve been going out with my class to [local establishments] like the Saco Heath Preserve where we did a survey. We’ve also gone out to other places to tag ash trees and report where they were. I find this very important because of the declining black ash populations.