Decade Award

When it came to leaving home to attend college, Molly Roske ’08 didn’t have very far to go. She’s from Collegeville, Minnesota, and says she grew up “in awe of the intellectual and monastic communities” at Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s. After considering “more far-flung” options for school, she ultimately opted for the awe-inspiring place at her doorstep.

Now she’s the one providing inspiration – and in the 10 years since graduating from Saint Ben’s, her path has taken her a long way from home. The environmental studies major headed to Alaska after graduation where she worked as an ecology interpreter. Next, she served as a short-term volunteer at a conservation foundation in Ecuador, then as an environmental education and community forestry Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. After earning a graduate degree in forest ecology at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Molly worked as a research associate throughout the U.S., helping improve understanding of how natural resource management could shift to accommodate the consequences of climate change.

Molly felt a pull to take some of these approaches to other parts of the world, where even less ecosystem science exists to support decision-makers. In 2017, she returned to Ecuador and Fundación Cordillera Tropical – the foundation where she had served as a volunteer many years prior – this time, as the Executive Director. Molly has been at the foundation ever since, developing and directing projects that aim to bridge ecological conservation goals with rural livelihoods.

The Fundación Cordillera Tropical’s mission of conserving biodiversity and water resources in the Andes is ambitious, but Molly isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. In addition to her wholehearted commitment to the foundation’s purpose, Molly wants to “inspire others to go after their goals courageously, and to be undeterred from exploring what most inspires them in life.”

She also wants people to “examine their personal practices – or those of the institutions that serve them – to change patterns or policies that erode the quality of life we all enjoy, or take proactive action to improve it, whether that be water quality in Minnesota or pristine tropical ecosystems in the Andes.” Speaking directly to those who might read this, Molly says: “Maybe I can inspire you to take that small first step toward change.”

Speaking of steps, Molly is taking a few big ones – and not just with regard to protecting ecosystems. A longtime avid runner, Molly has really found her stride living at 8,000 feet of elevation in Ecuador. She recently won (yes, won) Ecuador’s largest trail race, which is a 12.5-mile race with 7,000 feet of elevation gain, partway up a volcano.

What’s driving Molly’s incredible spirit and determination? Her family, whom she describes as “people with such a sense of community, rootedness and social justice.” And also, that school at her doorstep. “The focus on developing individuals of character and ethical conduct which CSB/SJU makes explicit through its Benedictine values has certainly guided my professional decision-making to a large degree; those of stewardship and community have stayed with me the most and have probably become part of the conviction that’s led me always toward the next opportunity to make a difference in the way we as a people treat our common home.”