A Letter from Our Founder
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Dear readers,
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Hiking Heroes started with a small group of friends who loved hiking. Our love for environmentalism was organic--our passion for protecting our planet grew as we hiked more and discovered the gifts mother nature had to offer that many lack appreciation for. Over the past six years, Hiking Heroes has grown to become an international organization consisting of over 80 proud registered members across seven chapters and hundreds of other volunteers who have found opportunities for direct and indirect involvement through our programs.
The Hiking Heroes Bulletin is an annual magazine we publish to showcase the incredible work of our members and students across the world. The writing and art we proudly present in each bulletin are a representation of the passion and dedication of the young generations. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the making of this year’s bulletin. To our writers, artists, editors, and publishers, thank you for your hard work and time. The Hiking Heroes Bulletin would not be possible without you.
As you read this magazine I hope you not only learn about our planet and ways to play a role in its protection but also are inspired to help others learn. Protecting the environment is not an individual cause but rather a societal effort. The environment plays a role in every aspect of our lives and we hope you will recognize how imperative it is that we act now.
With that, I hope you enjoy this year’s edition of the Hiking Heroes Bulletin.
Sincerely,
Ashley Chon
Founder/CEO of Hiking Heroes
A Letter from Our Presidents
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Dear Reader,
Before you read through the fourth issue of our bulletin, know that this has been full of challenges and progression that could not have been completed without the rest of our team. Contributions have not only stemmed from here in the central chapter of Virginia, but also from other writers in our North/South California, New Jersey, Maryland, and South Korea chapters. Additionally, we want to credit the guest contributors that submitted their artworks or writings to fulfill the content inside the bulletin. To everyone who poured their effort and time into creating this production, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Ultimately, our organization aims to spread the message of environmental preservation and support charities targeting humanitarian issues, and what you are reading is proof of said shared vision. As co-presidents of the Hiking Heroes Organization, we take tremendous pride in presenting our third, entirely student-led, issue of the bulletin. We hope as you read through each article that you realize although the world is filled with several predicaments ranging from impervious surfaces to irresponsible sourcing of natural resources, we can unify to discover unique solutions and overcome such feats through the simple things. It is a common trend throughout all of our works that any efforts, no matter how small, are extremely impactful towards preventing further deterioration of the world’s current environment. So we urge you, reader, to spread this message to anybody that you know and think about how you can make a difference for the rest of society.
To conclude this letter, we hope that you enjoy witnessing the hard work our whole organization has put into this project, and thank you so much for spending your time with us.
Sincerely,
Evan Lee and Joshua Lee
Co-Presidents of Hiking Heroes