Last May, two Darlington alumni with a few years and many miles between them met randomly while attending an environmental conference in Europe.
Whit Remer (‘03) and Jaclyn Brass (‘10) never encountered one another during their time as Darlington students, but it was their respective interest and work in environmental science that brought about a chance meeting at the Coastal Resilience Collaborative in Delft, Netherlands.
After small talk led to a conversation about their origins on the other side of the Atlantic, they discovered that beyond their participation at the United Nations Institute for Water Resources, the two Americans also had the same 500 acres of Northwest Georgia in common.
“It was one of those small world moments,” said Brass, a second-year student at the University of Colorado Law School. “It reminds you how special Darlington really is and how we were instantly able to connect over that.”
Remer, who works in Washington, D.C. as the senior manager of federal government relations at the American Society of Civil Engineers, and Brass, who recently completed an internship with the Florida Earth Foundation, spent a week in Holland learning about how the Dutch government builds and uses its infrastructure to protect the sub-sea level country and its inhabitants from flooding.
At the meeting, the Darlington graduates reminisced about the specific role that instructors like science teacher Owen Kinney played in their decision to pursue a calling in the environmental field.
“The basic awareness of how our environment works and how people manipulate it shaped and determined what I wanted to do with my life,” added Brass. “I want to help people understand how what they do impacts the environment and how we can work with nature to have the best of both worlds.”
“Even something as small as having the opportunity at Darlington to walk from building to building outside and enjoy the natural environment was the impetus for me to connect to the environment and to environmental law in particular,” said Remer, who serves on Darlington’s Alumni Council.
While the alums passed through Darlington’s Upper School at different times, boarding student Remer graduated with Brass’ oldest sister, Melissa (Brass) Polera (‘03).
“My own interest in the outdoors came from the opportunity to go to a school that encouraged students to explore intellectualism both inside and outside of the classroom,” said Remer. “Having a ‘micro-ecosystem’ [at Darlington], you begin to think about and look into issues of wildlife, water quality—any number of things related to environmental science, all on campus.”
Though their studies and careers have carried them outside of Georgia, the young alumni maintain their connection with their alma mater. Brass often visits with her friends and family back home in Rome, and just last spring, Remer co-hosted a reception for Darlington choral students and alumni in Washington, D.C.
“We both remembered several teachers and some similarities in what we experienced,” said Brass. “Not a lot of people get to have that same connection—how Darlington shaped and continues to shape us.”
“People can have very different experiences at Darlington,” added Remer. “But the one thing that remains constant is the quality and the value of the education.”
