Welcome to Friday Feature! Every Friday we will feature someone involved with ARC, including Board members, Junior Board members, field partner staff on the ground in Tanzania, and our volunteers and interns. We hope that this new feature will help you to get to know the many faces behind ARC and connect with our mission on a deeper level. This week we are featuring Scott L. Brzezinski from ARC’s Junior Board.

Scott Brzezinski is originally from northern Michigan, where he grew up loving the outdoors and all things in nature. After living in Italy, while in the U.S. Navy, he moved to NYC and attended New York University, receiving degrees in Journalism (BA) and Elementary Education (MA). After corporate jobs in events, marketing, and promotions, Scott entered the field of teaching, and taught public elementary school for eight years before returning for a short time to corporate events. Scott generously volunteers his time with several nonprofit organizations, drawing on his years in the corporate world to help with their fundraising events and initiatives. Along with being on African Rainforest’s Junior Board, he is also a member of Empire State Sinfonia’s Board. Scott loves Bikram Yoga, is an amateur NYC/Hudson Valley historian, and loves to travel and explore new areas of New York City. He resides with his partner, Kyle, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Getting to Know You…

How did you first get involved with ARC and when?

I learned about ARC in the spring of 2010 from a friend who had volunteered at the previous year’s Artists for Africa gala.  She put me in touch with ARC and I was very impressed with the mission and focus of the organization.  I volunteered at the galas in 2010 and 2011.

How have you been involved with ARC most recently?

I joined the Junior Board of ARC in March 2011 and am very excited to be a part of the organization.

Of all the places you have traveled, which resonates most with you?

This is too difficult of a question to answer! I thoroughly enjoyed the three years I lived in southern Italy when I traveled extensively around the peninsula and north into Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as a trip across the Adriatic to the island of Corfu, Greece.  Experiencing the history, culture, sights, foods, and the wonderful people of Europe for such a long period of time was truly amazing.  I also cannot forget the island of Santorini, Greece that I visited three years ago and how breathtakingly stunning it is.  It is definitely on the “must return to” list!

What do feel is the biggest challenge facing Africa today?

In no order of seriousness: the civil unrest in many of the countries is disturbing.  Also, the natural resources of Africa are, in many places, being stripped by companies from outside of the continent, and the local African governments seem to be allowing it to happen with little to no regard about the permanent effects on their respective countries.  I believe that the lack of financial stability of some of these countries forces them to “sell-out” to these richer countries willing to pay for the resources indiscriminately.

It often feels like one person can’t make a difference supporting the many environmental causes there are today. What small steps can people make to help conservation/preservation efforts in Africa or globally? 

Each person can make a difference, even as little as it seems at the time.  I recycle every piece of paper, plastic, metal, and glass, as well as batteries and plastic bags.  I even compost here in the city with my home composter that I take weekly to Union Square on market days to the Lower East Side Community Garden collection site there.  They collect compostable material and use it in their garden and sell the compost to help raise money for the garden.  It is important for people to get involved in what is happening around them environmentally and be active in the preservation of one’s surroundings.  Remember: we are only the current caretakers of the Earth – we should not be selfish and leave it in a worse state than that in which we found it.

What inspires you and how do you live it? 

I get inspired by selflessness in a person.  It only takes a little bit of time, energy, and/or compassion to help others which can mean the world to the person(s) on the receiving end.  This can inspire more people to “do good” in the world.  It can be like a snowball effect, or a “pass it forward” attitude, that can spark humongous and real change.

What is your most commonly spoken phrase, word, or saying?

There are two that I learned in junior high school from two amazing teachers with whom I am still in touch:  “Normal is boring” and “Excuses satisfy only those who make them.”  Both of these are very important to remember and incorporate into one’s life.

What do you do in your free time?

I practice a good deal of Bikram Yoga (a.k.a. really hot yoga to the uninitiated).  It keeps my mind stable and focused, my body in shape, healthy and running smoothly, and it helps me deal with the wonderful craziness of NYC. I love to travel, explore NYC, and spend time with friends and their families.  I am a Board Member of the Empire State Sinfonia, which also keeps me quite busy.

What was the last book you read?

I just finished a few language books brushing up on my Italian for a trip to the Italian peninsula I took recently.  As for a “real” book, I recently finished Dutch New York: The Roots of Hudson Valley Culture, a huge work detailing and chronicling the origins and the continuation of Dutch influence on New York City and up through the Hudson Valley from the first European explorers over 400 years ago to today.  I am now reading 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, a fascinating book on the successful, long-standing and extremely sophisticated cultures and peoples in the Americas that existed long before the Europeans arrived and changed everything about them – and not for the better.