In this episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast, hosts Dan and Katie head down to our West Palm Beach corporate headquarters to sit down with Rachel Starck, Environmental Scientist!
Rachel is a Florida native who grew up in Orlando with a childhood reputation for attracting wildlife, and a mother who gave her exactly the right career advice at exactly the right time. Two and a half years into her first job out of college, she’s doing the work she set out to do… and loving every second of it.
From Orlando to the Atlantic Coast
Rachel grew up in Orlando, where both of her parents built long careers at Walt Disney World, her father in Food and Beverage and her mother in Merchandising and Park Operations. It was a fun place to grow up, but Rachel always had one thing on her mind: the beach. When it came time to choose a college, she toured nearly every university across Florida before landing on Florida Atlantic University, which checked both boxes: a smaller campus and easy access to the coast.
Her initial studies focused on biology, but she soon made the switch to geoscience in her sophomore year, and the move turned out to be a natural fit. Geoscience at FAU covered earth science, climate, and environmental systems, exactly the direction she was already headed.
Outside of the classroom, Rachel stayed busy. She served as president of SEEDS (Strategies for Ecology, Education, Diversity, and Stewardship), participated in student government, and spent a significant amount of her undergraduate years conducting paid research on gopher tortoises with FAU faculty…. As it turns out, this research would come in more useful than she ever expected!
Finding Her Way to WGI
Midway through her senior year, with COVID-era online classes freeing up her schedule, Rachel began sourcing and applying for jobs to see what may stick. Through these efforts, a director on WGI’s environmental team soon found her profile and reached out.
Upon learning that Rachel was already available and working remotely, he invited her to start as an intern in February rather than wait for summer. She graduated from FAU, transitioned to full-time, and the rest is history as she now closes in on two and a half years with WGI.
The Work: Puzzles, Permits, and Smoothies
Environmental science at WGI covers more ground than most people expect. Rachel’s day-to-day spans protected species surveys (including gopher tortoises and burrowing owls), wetland and mangrove permitting for roadway projects, tree surveys ahead of development, and contamination work on sites being redeveloped from prior agricultural or commercial use.
For example, when a former golf course or farm is being converted to residential use, Rachel’s team assesses soil and groundwater for pesticide contamination, develops a remediation approach, and works to bring the site up to residential standards. She describes it as a puzzle, figuring out what’s wrong with a site and then solving it.
But that’s not all. Beyond her day-to-day, Rachel is also a registered FWC Gopher Tortoise Agent, or as Dan put it on the episode, Agent Starck.
Life Outside the Office
Beyond the office, Rachel is most comfortable outdoors. She paddleboards, hikes, swims, and logs long walks regularly, including a recent appearance at WGI’s West Palm Beach Corporate Run 5K. At home, she shares her space with Kiwi, a calico cat who has zero interest in being taken on walks.
In reflecting on what she would do if she weren’t an environmental scientist, Rachel shares that she would probably be captaining a sailboat somewhere across an ocean. And while she doesn’t sail just yet, plans are certainly in motion.
Tune In
Rachel’s story is a great reminder that sometimes the clearest path is the one you find early. She set out to work in environmental science, found a team that trusted her to run with projects independently, and landed somewhere she’s genuinely glad to be, but don’t take our word for it…. Tune into this episode of WGI Unleashed on your favorite podcast platform and stay tuned for more conversations with the people, projects, and culture that define WGI!
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