Celebrating Two Decades of the Stanford SEEDS Chapter!

After an amazing Earth Week in 2026 with the Stanford SEEDS Chapter, led by current president Kelly Benitez, I was inspired to write this blog. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Ecological Society of America taking the SEEDS program under its wings, growing it into a greater national network of programs: field trips, conferences, and, relevant to this post, student chapters. On the rainy Tuesday morning of April 22 at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma), I found myself looking back at many files on the origins of the Stanford SEEDS chapter, 20 years ago. 

Cindy Wilber, former Education Coordinator at Jasper Ridge, and Professor Rodolfo Dirzo of the Department of Biology planted the seeds of what would grow into one of the most impactful student chapters in the ESA SEEDS network. Twenty years later, the Stanford SEEDS Chapter continues to thrive, guided by their original vision with three main components: experiential education, caring mentorship, and authentic long-term community partnerships. Cindy and Rodolfo knew that these components could transform lives, build stronger careers, and diversify the field of ecology. Rodolfo remains the faculty advisor to this day, providing two decades of continuous leadership to the chapter. 

The Stanford University SEEDS Chapter's story began in 2002, when Cindy first participated in the ESA SEEDS program at the Tucson ESA meeting. The following year, in 2003, Cindy and the Jasper Ridge community hosted a national SEEDS field trip, energizing the creation of the Stanford chapter. By 2006-2007, with the leadership of founding co-presidents Christine George and Valentina Fontiveros and with Cindy and Rodolfo as advisors, the Stanford SEEDS Chapter officially took root in the spring of 2007. From reviewing all of their annual reports and activities, they, as a team, implemented creative events, organized one-day gatherings, created speaker series, and developed one-on-one mentoring relationships. 

These early years also saw what would become the chapter's most transformative partnership: Cindy Wilber and Rodolfo Dirzo led the collaboration with the Redwood Environmental Academy of Leadership (REAL) program at Redwood High School, a continuation school in nearby Redwood City serving students who had faced challenges in traditional high schools. The rapid success and impact of the program stimulated the High School's Principal to hire a science teacher to be in charge of REAL. Fortunately, the school has maintained such teacher position until the present days. This partnership, now approaching two decades, demonstrates the truly authentic community engagement between the two programs and their members. 

Figure 1. SEEDS students, Jasper Ridge docents, and Professor Rodolfo Dirzo participating in many outreach activities such as BioBlitzes in Lagunita and REAL program. Photos by Cindy Wilber.

From 2009-2017, the chapter's growth was driven by the commitment of many dedicated student leaders, including Kate Lowry, Mattias Lanas, Erica Fernandez, Kimberly Gibson, Michael Peñuelas, Casey Mullins, and many others. They organized BioBlitzes, international collaborations with students in Mexico, field trips to Hopkins Marine Station, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, and the California Academy of Sciences, weekly classroom visits to REAL, "Shadow Days" bringing high school students to campus, conservation advocacy projects with Dr. Alan Launer to protect tiger salamanders in the Lagunita habitat (formerly known as Lake Lag), and regional projects with other Bay Area SEEDS chapters. During these years, the chapter earned the 2011 Stanford Community Partnership Award. Many more student leaders, including Mike Burnett, Catie Mong, Ana Sophia Mifsud, Kenji Tanabe, Diego Roman, TC Robbins, Sophia Christel, Amelia Zuckerwise, Hannah Black, Alan Wei, and others continued the good work. 

Figure 2. Stanford SEEDS Chapter with REAL at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, hosting REAL on Shadow Day at Stanford, BioBlitz at Lagunita, SEEDS at the national ESA Conference and Jasper Ridge docent Bill Gomez with a REAL student. Pictures by Cindy Wilber and ESA staff. 

After Cindy Wilber's retirement in 2019, Rodolfo Dirzo remained as faculty advisor, and I took on the role of staff co-advisor. I was humbled and excited to continue with the chapter's original goals of experiential ecology education, mentorship, and partnerships. The chapter continued to thrive with student leaders Sriram Narasimhan, Sydney Lee Schmitter, and Chrysanthe Frangos. With the help of many other students like Esther Tok, Erin Cole, Andy Huynh, Weston Kirk, Sebastian Vázquez, Camden Burk, and Kate Esbenshade, they all quickly adapted through the pandemic's challenges, maintaining the core partnership with REAL through hands-on, virtual, and safe outdoor lessons on themes such as plant communities, soil texturing, and ocean acidification. The 2024-2025 academic year demonstrated renewed growth with innovative collaborations, including the beginning of many SEEDS and NSF SOAR BioBlitz collaborations that started a focus on avian ecology, field trips for REAL students to Jasper Ridge with college access mentoring, and many classroom visits. 

The Stanford SEEDS Chapter is now entering its third decade with new energy under the leadership of chapter president Kelly Benitez, who organized an ambitious weekend for Earth Week 2026. Kelly applied for and received an internal Stanford grant to fund an all-expenses-paid field trip for the REAL program to the California Academy of Sciences. The following day, April 18th, the chapter continued its long-term tradition and partnered with Stanford's Conservation Department for a BioBlitz at Lagunita. And on Sunday, April 19th, we, the Stanford SEEDS Chapter, hosted the SEEDS chapter from the University of San Francisco (USFCA SEEDS) for a guided hike. For me, while hiking, it was a special moment to witness Kelly and Eva guiding and building new partnerships with neighboring SEEDS chapters. A big shout-out to USFCA SEEDS Chapter President Paige Hein and Professors April Randle and Simon Scarpetta for organizing. To all of our surprise, it turns out that Simon is also a Jasper Ridge docent from the class of 2013! We hope he returns with his classes and leads some tours in the future! 

Since I arrived in 2019, I have come to believe that Cindy, Rodolfo, and all the Stanford SEEDS students have been inspired by Jasper Ridge itself. For me, and I hope for everyone else that visits, Jasper Ridge is a welcoming space, grounded like those strong valley oaks on the value of building an authentic and caring long-term community. This is an ideal I have always tried to follow. For two decades, Rodolfo has provided a vision that combines academic mentorship with excellence in conservation and biodiversity research. Cindy Wilber's decades of work building relationships with REAL, organizing field trips, securing grants, and mentoring student leaders created a solid foundation that continues to benefit the chapter today. 

And of course, the students. Stanford students are often extremely busy with classes, academic responsibilities, sports, and research, yet the Stanford SEEDS students still find time to advance the mission of SEEDS. All the way from Christine and Valentina in those founding years to Kelly, who is setting up the chapter for the next decade! She even inspired me to write more grants for the Stanford SEEDS Chapter! 

Reading the reports since 2007, it is clear that every generation has brought fresh energy and new ideas to continue strengthening the partnership with ESA SEEDS locally, regionally, and nationally. The seeds planted twenty years ago have grown into a community that continues to provide curiosity, inspiration, and opportunity for many generations of students. The chapter's impact includes an estimated 1,000+ students directly served, 60+ student leaders, 10+ annual BioBlitzes, hundreds of classroom visits, dozens of field trips and presentations at national conferences, and multiple high school and university partnerships across the Bay Area and internationally. 

Here's to 20 years of growing the SEEDS community and the impact still to come!

Figure 3. SEEDS Stanford Chapter activities during Earth Week 2026! Photos by Kelly Benitez, REAL staff and Jorge Ramos. 

Jorge Ramos, Ph.D., ED of JRBP ('O'O)