About 10 years ago, Dick Bronson, a fervent environmental educator, taught students at Radney Elementary School in Alexander City to test the water in a stream near the school grounds. And he planted a seed that has been growing all these years in Halee Dunaway.

An Alexander City native and recent Benjamin Russell High School graduate, Dunaway was greatly influenced by Bronson’s observations and exercises, and she’s set her sights on a career in natural resource management.