Sophie Cox—She’s a Winner!

By Ellen Lambeth

Congratulations to Sophie Cox, 18, the winner of the 2021 Craig Tufts Educational Scholarship!

This scholarship pays the way for one nature-loving kid and an adult family member to attend the Family Nature Summit, a week-long outdoor education camp.

Sophie says, “I was drawn to this program’s commitment to bringing people closer to nature—a mission I firmly believe in. When I learned that I had won, I was surprised and delighted!”

Unfortunately, the 2021 New York Adirondacks Summit was cancelled because of Covid-19. But Sophie looks forward to the 2022 Summit in California. She checked a list of birds there and found several she hopes to see for the first time.

Sophie keeps an eye out for wildlife wherever she is. She says, “When I visit a new place, wildlife-watching can feel almost magical.” As you can see above, sometimes Sophie is watched by wildlife—in this case, a cicada perched on her nose. As a first-grader, she was obsessed with insects and wanted to grow up to be an entomologist, a scientist who studies them. Now she wants to study nature in all its forms—and to protect it. She hopes other kids share her dreams, too.

Last summer, Sophie worked at a camp where many of the kids had hearing and speech disabilities. But she says, “You don’t need words to play and laugh and flip over stones to marvel together at the life hidden underneath.”

Sophie may feel most at home among the trees of South Carolina, where she lives (left). But she can’t wait to gaze up into the mighty redwoods. She says, “These ancient forests towered above the California coastline long before people ever set foot there.”