Fifty years ago, 89 students arrived in Lakeville and ushered in a new era of women and girls at Hotchkiss. Throughout the 2024-25 academic year, Hotchkiss will reflect on their inspiring legacy, pay tribute to the achievements of students who followed in their footsteps, and gratefully acknowledge all members of the Hotchkiss community who boldly helped steer the School forward.

By Erin Reid P'01,'05

Hotchkiss provided Leslie “Cakey” Worthington ’09 an opportunity to immerse herself in activities and classwork in the area of her passion—the natural world of the Northwest Corner of Connecticut. A lifelong environmentalist, she focused her studies and career on forest management and now serves as vice president of carbon operations at Aurora Sustainable Lands (formerly Bluesource Sustainable Forests Company).

At Hotchkiss, Worthington was co-head of both SEA (Student Environmental Action) and the Outing Club, and she was also an inaugural member of the FFEAT (Fairfield Farm Ecosystem and Adventure Team) co-curricular with Charlie Noyes ’78, P’03,’07. Environmental science classes with Jim Morrill P’87,’89 allowed her to visit local forests, wetlands, and caves and learn about ecosystems by observing the soil, plants, and animals.

Worthington began her secondary education at an all-girls boarding school and spent her sophomore spring at the High Mountain Institute backpacking, skiing, and camping in Colorado and Utah. “I came to Hotchkiss as an upper mid looking for academic rigor and a strong on-campus community. My parents prioritized educational opportunities for me—and Hotchkiss was a perfect fit.”

Classes around the Harkness table engaged and inspired her. “I also enjoyed humanities classes. Charlie Frankenbach P’12,’16 and John Cooper P’08,’11 come to mind as teachers who really challenged me to think critically and outside the box.”

The combination of activities and studies motivated Worthington to find a similar experience in a college: an academically focused school with small classes and an opportunity to learn and adventure in a surrounding ecosystem. She decided on Davidson College in North Carolina, majoring in biology with a focus on ecology and wildlife. “I volunteered for a land trust helping encourage private land conservation in the local community. Coming out of undergrad, I went to work for the Catawba Lands Conservancy which furthered my interest in ecosystem services and private-sector conservation.”

Worthington pursued a Master of Environmental Management and Master of Forestry at Duke University. “The MEM concentrated on landscape-level planning, whereas the MF focused more on specific tools, technologies, and techniques for managing a forest for multiple outcomes—timber products, recreation, wildlife, habitat, etc.”

She began her career as a project developer for forest carbon offset programs, helping large forestland owners enroll their forests into programs that would pay them to store carbon in their trees instead of cutting them down at market rate. “The modern forest carbon programs of today were just being established and tested when I came out of graduate school. This seemed like a great path to combine my interests and skills to help change an age-old industry (forestry) into a new era of climate and ecologically focused forest management.”

She decided to translate that work into the operations of on-the-ground management. “I was an early hire at a start-up forest climate investment company founded by former members of the project development firm I worked for right out of graduate school. Aurora Sustainable Lands is now the seventh-largest private forestland owner in the U.S. and the largest forest owner managing forests for the climate, with 1.7 million acres of predominantly natural hardwood forests across the eastern half of the U.S.” Their focus is to actively manage their forests to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, become more resilient to disturbance from climate change, and adapt to the changing climate for the long term.

As vice president of carbon operations, she oversees a team of “boots-on-the-ground forestry professionals” who manage carbon-offset projects, climate adaptation and resilience strategy, wildlife and biodiversity, recreation, forest sustainability certification, and community partnerships.

According to Worthington, carbon offsets act as a financial tool in the private sector to incentivize behavior change and process improvements. Either through compliance obligations or voluntary initiatives, many corporations and organizations are trying to reduce their climate impact or reach net-zero targets.

“Entities can reduce their emissions through internal process improvements or technological advancements, but in many cases cannot fully reach their targets without also purchasing offsets of a climate benefit created outside their own efforts,” she explained. “Carbon offsets are one tool that can be used to help reduce carbon emissions and remove existing carbon from the atmosphere.”

It goes without saying that Worthington loves her work. “I make decisions impacting millions of acres of land. I get to tromp around in the woods and see the Monarch butterflies, black bears, and migratory warblers—all benefiting from our habitat management. I get to see former tree plantations regrowing into diverse natural forests and interact with the local communities who benefit from recreating on our properties.”

She returned to Hotchkiss this summer for her 15th reunion. “I continue to be impressed by the place-based learning opportunities and increased focus on sustainability and environmental initiatives. From the farm and sustainable dining programs, the greenhouse rooftop, and environmental classes, Hotchkiss continues to be a place where young minds can learn from their surroundings and think outside themselves.”