“Yes, and” is a phrase most associated with improv theater, but senior Abby Schroeder, a forestry major focusing on forest management, has turned it into her personal mantra. She has eagerly accepted every opportunity that has come her way — and then some. Throughout her three years at Oregon State University, Schroeder has undoubtedly built an extensive résumé for herself.

For two years, she has worked as a paid forest management intern for the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest under interim director Mark Swanson. In this role, she conducts regular fieldwork, project layout and harvest preparation for tree stands in the forest. She also co-led a community tour of the McDonald-Dunn with fellow intern and undergraduate student Sawyer Lawton.

Yet that is not where her extracurricular involvement ends. Schroeder is also an officer in the Women in Timber club, which attended the Oregon Logging Conference and Ag Fest this year. She volunteers every Sunday on the coast at an interpretive center run by the Bureau of Land Management, has participated in a community talk for the Marys River Watershed Council, and has gone on two forestry study abroad trips: one to Chile to learn about land management systems and another to New Zealand. During the New Zealand trip, Schroeder and her group experienced many different aspects of Māori culture, with a focus on the importance of collaborating with Indigenous communities.

On top of all her achievements at OSU, she also has a temporary job lined up a month after graduation with the Oregon Department of Forestry. There, she will continue her path in forest management and work on a fire engine for the first time, being on call to fight wildfires.

“I like the idea of being a lifelong learner,” Schroeder said. “I have an explorative mindset, and I want to be involved.”

As a graduating senior, she said that, looking back, she will be happy to know that she got to do work every day in the McDonald-Dunn that promotes forest health and is a step in the process of restoring land to be a more diverse area for people to enjoy and for future generations to use.

“It’ll be cool to come back to Corvallis in like 25-30 years and see how the stands I worked on developed and flourished,” Schroeder said. “I just think it’ll be so cool to see the work that Sawyer and I did come to fruition years after I leave OSU.”

When asked what advice she has for future College of Forestry students, she emphasized the importance of getting involved.

“I think it’s really important to put yourself out there in college,” she said. “You should volunteer, be an active member in the College of Forestry, go to class and really get engaged with your classmates.”

Schroeder added that she came to OSU as a transfer student after her freshman year and initially felt behind. That changed when she stepped outside her comfort zone and threw herself into opportunities that seemed scary at the time but were completely worth it in the end.

“Put yourself out there and good things will come to you,” Schroeder said.