Posted: 12/12/2024
Kniep looking toward career blending nature and faith
By Ronica Stromberg
Kara Kniep traces her decision to pursue a lifetime of work with nature back to what she calls 'God moments' on her family's farm near Deshler. She spent much of her childhood playing outdoors, walking the pastures and marveling about nature and its creator.
"Nature is amazing, and what I know is the creator of it is even more amazing," the Chancellor's Scholar recently said.
Set to graduate in December with a 4.0 grade point average and a fisheries and wildlife major, Kniep is seeking a position that allows her to continue exploring nature and her faith.
She gained relevant experience from managing habitat at Cedar Point Biological Station her freshman year and from a nine-month internship she finished a few weeks ago with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. She served as president of the Wildlife Club in the School of Natural Resources and took home both the Brian Smith Outstanding Student Award and the Ron Case Scholarship at the School of Natural Resources Spring Banquet on April 6, 2024.
But those achievements are only half the story. Kniep also held leadership positions in an on-campus Christian organization, The Navigators, and served on a missions trip through it to the Middle East. There, she met in the homes and saw the faces of women who had encountered ISIS, making real what she had only heard about on the news. The trip became what she termed her 'study abroad,' opening her eyes to what she had considered far-away problems.
"That was definitely a really good experience and knowing just how to communicate with people of a different culture and learning to love them well and knowing that God loves all people and just learning to do that," she said.
The trip ended not with a mountaintop experience but a sand-dune-top one. She and the missions team camped in the desert two days and climbed atop a sand dune at night to lie under the stars. She had found nature and God—and the accompanying peace—even in the conflict-wracked Middle East.
"That was another really cool nature moment-God moment," Kniep said.
It was one of many moments reaffirming her decision as a freshman to minor in environmental education. She wanted not only to experience inspirational moments in nature but to share them with others.
“I had shifted my gaze more from just doing research and being out by myself outdoors all the time to wanting to connect with more people and realizing that I could, hopefully, make an impact in helping others care for the environment and want to explore our environment and just learn more about it," she said.
While her freshmen work at Cedar Point had involved learning how to use chainsaws, her junior and senior work with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission focused on outreach and teaching. She became certified as a kayak instructor and taught the public how to use them. She helped with 'Kayak Cleanups,' picking up trash at local lakes.
Put in charge of the 'Curious Caterpillars' program of Game and Parks in the summer, she set up stations and gave about 150 infants, preschoolers and their parents the chance to touch a turtle, salamander or snake. She also introduced the public to snakes named Wilbur and Meatball at Game and Parks events and booths. She visited classrooms, and middle school children became her favorite audience because of their curiosity, she said.
She recommended other university students take a summer position or internship to find out what they truly enjoy, network, get good references and learn also about positions they might not have considered. She also encouraged students to not be afraid to step outside their comfort zone.
She had stepped out her freshman year when she came from a town of fewer than 800 and entered college during the Covid-19 pandemic. Masked and told fewer opportunities existed to socialize, she still felt surprised and a bit overwhelmed by all the opportunities she found, she said. She joined the Wildlife Club and The Navigators and soon stepped into leadership roles she had not anticipated.
"Even if it's scary, that's going to help you grow and help you get the experiences that are going to help you decide what you want to do in the future," she said. "And yeah, for me, sometimes I say, 'God sent me to college, not for a degree, but to just grow closer to him,' and I've loved my degree, but just joining The Navigators, I've grown so much of my faith. So, there are so many different opportunities and unexpected ways that you will grow."
She said her faith and background have helped her much in environmental education. She has read studies of how being outside can help people with their mental, physical and spiritual health and said she has lived it too.
"For me, it's definitely been a place of peace, just reconnecting with God and being able to see kids get so excited over an insect or adults being able to kayak on a lake," she said. "Nature is for everyone."
