Ary Amaya, B.S. 2020

Meet Ary Amaya, a double Bruin who is spearheading Indigenous-led reforestation efforts in Los Angeles. Ary unites Indigenous students from LAUSD schools with environmentalists from the Anawakalmekak school to revitalize local ecosystems and reconnect Indigenous communities with their ancestral lands. Graduating from UCLA in 2020, she earned a B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Conservation Biology. Ary is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at the UCLA Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, where she is advised by Dr. Elsa Ordway, co-director of the Center for Tropical Research and Congo Basin Institute.