Savannah Hoover

Major: Interdisciplinary Studies in Outdoor Adventure Leadership and Journalism

Class of: 2013

Savannah Hoover is currently pursuing her juris doctor and MBA degrees at the University of New Mexico, concentrating on Natural Resources and Environmental Law. She first learned about Sierra Nevada College because a friend mentioned it offered an “Adventure Journalism” degree. She immediately applied and moved across the country without knowing anything about Lake Tahoe.

From her very first weekend in the outdoors, she knew this was an education unlike any other. While learning to be an outdoor leader and a journalist, she also learned how to focus an interdisciplinary eye on all situations. She had to apply knowledge from an array of sources – traditional and otherwise – to any problem.

“I just want the world to know that an interdisciplinary degree is the best opportunity to bring together the diverse worlds you love and discover how to always keep them engaged as you move forward in life. It creates new, refreshing solutions in a world that seems desperate for that kind of thinking.”

As an undergraduate, Savannah was the managing editor of the campus newspaper and co-founding editor of the newspaper’s website. She is an NOLS graduate, received both an ODAL Student Instructor Scholarship and an Outdoor Writers Assoc. of America’s Bodie McDowell Scholarship, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Her senior project, a memoir devoted to integrating her interdisciplinary education with every aspect of life, from adventures to tragedies, won first place at the Student Symposium in 2013.

After graduating from SNC, Savannah worked a variety of jobs—from nature guide to data analyst, ropes course instructor to illustrator—all which were possible because of her multi-faceted focus at SNC. After teaching English in Northern Thailand for a year, she started a small writing and editing business. She still manages Savage Word Services while pursuing her JD and MBA degrees.

Savannah chose to pursue a legal education because it would allow her to do more for the creative and outdoor communities she was part of at SNC. In search of the news, she discovered the people, resources and lands that needed legal advocates as well as having their story told. She hopes to protect not only artists and creators, but also the outdoors, the people who enjoy it, and the wildlife found there.

“The skills of problem solving, critical thinking, and communicating are necessary for any role in society – but what better way to serve society than to use your skills and potential to understand and shape the law? While journalism showed me that real change was necessary, I have realized that a legal education is the way to implement that change.”

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