Olivia Marrero is a second year student at The Ohio State University. She grew up in Massillon, Ohio where she graduated from Jackson High School in 2021. As of now, she’s majoring in environmental molecular science with minors in Spanish and geochemistry. She hopes to be able to obtain certificates in hydrogeology and climate change science as well. She has always been passionate about environmental sustainability and equity. During her junior year of high school, she fell in love with chemistry. Chemistry explains so much about the world, and she truly believes that it can play a large role in saving it. 

When she wasn’t studying for chem, Olivia spent her time as president of both the marching band and the Spanish Honors Society (La Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica). Those leadership roles taught her a lot about collaborating with others, organizing large scale events, consolidating ideas, and using said ideas to gain profits for the organizations. The skills she gained from those experiences helped her create a multidimensional project with Habitat for Humanity – East Central Ohio in which she helped them build a relationship with the local Latinx community. During high school, Olivia was both a finalist in the The American Chemical Society’s National Chemistry Olympiad Competition and a Canton Repository Stark State Teen of the Month in November 2020. She even obtained The Seal Of Biliteracy in May of 2020. 

Ohio State itself has so many paths within The School of Environment and Natural Resources, but she’s most interested in molecular science. What habitats she’ll work in or which natural resource(s) she’ll work with, she’s not sure, but she’s excited to discover them all. In the future, she hopes to be able to spend the day outside in her chosen biome taking samples or collecting data and then returning to the lab to examine and interpret them. Because of being ethnically Puerto Rican, she hopes to be able to live in an area where she can both use her Spanish and connect with Latin culture. Even though Olivia has only been an OSU student for a little over a year, she has had the most amazing academic and social experiences. In October of 2021, Olivia worked with three other Eminence students to create a multidimensional app that the community can use to increase the amount of climate resilient, native, and pollinator plants growing in the area. For their excellent work, the team was awarded first place at The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center’s Inaugural Climathon Competition. She has even proposed and enacted her very own soil remediation research project under the supervision of Dr. Katrina Cornish. Olivia spends her Football Saturdays as a Zero Waste Intern in which she works with the OSU community to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills. She also works as a Student Assistant within OSU Libraries where she works on the restoration and conservation of historic and valuable texts.

As she continues to grow and explore, Olivia is excited to be able to do more both academically and socially at OSU. Whether she’s continuing her research on soil remediation, engaging with Millenium Fellows, celebrating with the Puerto Rican Student Association, or working out with CHAARG, she knows that she will continue to gain valuable experiences that’ll set her up for success in her future career(s).