Characters

I’m pretty sure she’s not thinking wedding dress/9-5 job/2.5 children/white picket fence.

I get the sense that Melanie has her eyes focused on one thing: doing life on her terms, charting a new course, and making a difference. Anything other than that is probably not even on her radar.

Her voice gets animated, her pulse quickens and her attitude revs the second she starts talking about the summer ahead. Twenty-year-old Melanie Canna, a Victor grad, will spend two months volunteering at nature centers across the country in an initiative she and a partner created called Explore and Restore. Before she enters her senior year at SUNY Cortland she will have traveled the continental United States — by truck — and seen more than most will see in a lifetime.

She’s the definition of innovation. Seriously, who dreams up a website, fundraising strategy, objectives, destinations and budget in preparation for their “summer vacation?” Come to think of it, who spends their summer working for free doing the most un-glamorous, backbreaking slugging of soil, plant matter, and all things nature? And then sleeps in the back of a truck at night.

Not me. Not anyone I know.

I love that Melanie has chosen a path that is entirely unique, that fits her completely, exclusively, that reflects her passions and convictions. I love even more that she didn’t get to this point by luck. Somewhere along the line, someone empowered her to chart her own course and make things happen on her own terms. Was it a parent? A teacher? Whoever sparked her innovative spirit should be smiling now. Their legacy is alive and well and will soon travel across the U.S. making things happen.

Know what Melanie’s motto is? “It’s more important to make a life than make a living.”

She’s doing it. Hats off to you girl, and double to whoever equipped you to do incredible things.