Today we’d like to introduce you to Dryden Mills.
Hi Dryden, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I serve as the Community Engagement Specialist with St. Johns Riverkeeper. My job entails leading our outreach efforts with adults and families in our community, mostly in Jacksonville but also within our entire watershed. The St. Johns River is 310 miles long, and its watershed takes up about 15% of our state – our job at St. Johns Riverkeeper is to defend and advocate for the protection of the entire river.
Aside from planning engaging events, outings, and volunteer opportunities for the whole of our community, I have also spent the last year working to revitalize our young professionals group, Rising Tides. Rising Tides is for anyone in the Jacksonville area, aged 21-40, who cares about the environment and the river, regardless of your professional background. Rising Tides has been around since about 2014 and was led for a long time by dedicated volunteer, Alicia Smith, among many others.
After the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rising Tides had sort of fizzled out and many of its members had aged out. So when I started in this role last spring, I saw a real opportunity to start anew and bring back this group for eco-minded young people in our area.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As with any initiative, it can be hard to get momentum going when starting fresh. We are definitely still a growing group and we will have more opportunities for the group each new year, but I am proud of what we have accomplished so far this year.
Last fall, we recruited and initiated a new leadership committee, and together they helped relaunch the larger group in January of this year. Since then, they have adopted Blue Cypress Park in the Arlington area and host bi-monthly cleanups there. They have also hosted a few Climate Chat Happy Hours to start and keep the conversation going about climate change and how it will impact our city and our river, and what we can do about it. And, they are currently planning a fundraising event for this fall and some fun outings.
The main struggle in revamping this group has been consistent engagement. We are in the process of finding new ways to get people involved and keep them involved with Rising Tides. As we continue to build our capacity, I think this will start to fall into place.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Rising Tides is a team volunteer effort. While I am the staff liaison to the group, the decision makers and rockstars here are our leadership committee. Each member of the leadership committee volunteers their time to help steer this group and build its capacity as we continue to establish ourselves. This year’s committee was appointed based on availability, dedication, and experience, but now that we have a member-base once again, each new year’s committee moving forward will be elected by the group.
2026 Rising Tides Leadership Committee
Chair – Aidan Lurtz
Co Chair – Jacob Holly
Communications Manager – Marysia Letki
Treasurer – Cody Blevins
General Committee Members – Sarah Grimsley, Parker Lepore, Seth Wingate
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
One big piece of advice I would give people starting their career is to find something you are passionate about or really interested in and invest some time and energy in that even if it isn’t your full-time job.
Before starting with St. Johns Riverkeeper, I had worked in various nonprofit and retail settings but had not really found my niche. I knew I enjoyed being outside and I had found myself consistently drawn to the natural world. I was in a transition period and I thought about going back to school, but decided to find some more accessible ways to invest in this passion while I continued to work my retail job. I started volunteering with the Jacksonville Zoo and taking Master Naturalist classes through the University of Florida’s extension service.
Investing in my interests allowed me to make the connections I needed to land my job with St. Johns Riverkeeper. If you are also interested in conservation and the environment, check out Rising Tides! This is a great way to get to know like-minded people in our area and to get out in our watershed.
Pricing:
- Rising Tides Membership – as little as $30 annually
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stjohnsriverkeeper.org/rising-tides/
- Instagram: @TheRisingTides
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SJRK.Rising.Tides
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/sjrk-rising-tides/
