CURE warmly welcomes Maria Oachs to our staff as a legal intern during the summer of 2024. This fall, Maria will be a third-year law student at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. As a legal intern at CURE, she will continue our work cataloging and analyzing state agency policies and how different agencies make plans to engage with key rural constituencies.
Maria originally hails from rural northwestern Wisconsin, growing up on a hobby farm near Grantsburg, WI. Her love for the environment comes from this rural upbringing. As a teenager, she was steeped in agriculture through 4H and spent time as an avid hunter in the surrounding woods and marshes. These experiences cultivated an appreciation for nature and the environment, clearly illustrating that humans are just one species that coexists within a much larger ecosystem. Maria holds a degree in Equine Science and Management (B.S.) with minors in Political Science and Agricultural Economics from the University of Kentucky.
Maria was drawn to CURE by its dedication to advocating for the environment and rural people, a cause she deeply resonates with due to her rural background. Her firsthand experiences have underscored the crucial role of rural communities in protecting and preserving the ecosystems we all depend on. Post-law school, Maria aspires to use environmental law to advocate for nature and the people and communities whose well-being is threatened by the climate and biodiversity crises.
