BOXERWOOD RISING: Meet Chris Young, Environmental Engineer

Throughout our 25th year, we’re sharing stories of young people whose Boxerwood experiences shaped their passions and vocations. Have a young friend to recommend? Contact Catherine Epstein: catherine@boxerwood.org

When Chris Young was entering his sophomore year at Virginia Tech, he had no idea what major to pursue. “I’d just been taking a bunch of Gen Ed courses,” he remembers. He went to meet with his advisor, where an unexpected sign appeared. “They had an Environmental Science major flyer pinned up in front of me, and I was like ‘Oh yeah, I remember doing all that stuff outside, doing the Bay Trip’…So I just went with it, and here I am.”

That Bay Trip, which would wind up being so consequential, took place after Chris finished 6th grade at Rockbridge Middle School. He had only just moved to Rockbridge County, so he hadn’t yet experienced Boxerwood through our school programs. “It was the first time that they offered the Blue Ridge to the Bay weeklong trip,” he recalls, “so I did that over that summer, and it just really piqued my interest in nature, and being outside, and seeing that there is this whole world that you can take advantage of in your career.” 

He specifically remembers the very first day of the canoe trip, when he and fellow adventurers paddled down the James River and conducted macroinvertebrate testing. “I thought that was really cool. And then…exploring the marshes and learning more about them and that ecosystem was really interesting.” He added that the Bay Trip educators “were incredibly knowledgeable. They made everything interactive and fun. They made everyone excited to be doing what we were doing.” Christopher enjoyed it so much that he signed up for the trip again after 7th grade too. Hooked on outdoor science, the next summer he participated in an Ecology-focused Governor’s School at the Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, now Mountain Gateway.

After graduating from Rockbridge County High School in 2014, Chris attended Virginia Tech for that Bay-inspired bachelor’s in Environmental Science. After graduation, he returned to Rockbridge, working for the Lexington-based office of Commonwealth Environmental Associates, an environmental remediation firm. Looking back, he recalled how meaningful it was to work with homeowners who had “some sort of accidental release of heating oil or something else that gets into the stream, and you’re running out [to the site] and absorbing it, and you’re feeling that tangible cleanup.” He went on, “I always really enjoyed that because you can see exactly the benefit of what you’re doing…it’s stressful at the time, but it’s exciting when you get to see almost instant benefits.” 

Since gaining a master’s in Civil Engineering from UVA in 2024, Chris now works for Leidos, first as an environmental scientist and now as an environmental engineer. Working remotely from Rockbridge, he’s currently a deputy project manager on a contract doing investigations and remedial work at military installations nationwide. These investigations are specifically focused on PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – otherwise known as “forever chemicals.” Christopher designs plans that often involve groundwater sampling and installing monitoring wells. That allows his team to see the level of PFAS contamination in soil, surface water, and sediment, which in turn helps him develop a plan for remediation. 

Unlike his work with Commonwealth Environmental, where he could physically see both contamination and cleanup, analyzing and remediating PFAS chemicals can be much more complex. First, the science and guidance is “constantly changing,” Christopher explained. “It feels like there’s always a new research paper that comes out, or new regulatory guidance that changes the way we look at it, or changes how we see the risks posed by the different compounds.” Even out in the field, “There’s a lot you have to take into account…because of how ubiquitous teflon can be when you’re doing environmental sampling. You want to try not to cross-contaminate anything, so you have to look at all of the materials you’re using, what you’re wearing even. When the things you’re looking at are on a parts-per-trillion scale, the slightest cross-contamination can throw off your whole sample.” 

Still, Christopher explained that these challenges are also what he enjoys most about his current job. “Working with different clients, different regulatory agencies, and also the different sites, you get to see the different ways that chemicals made their way into the environment, and you’re trying to figure out, ‘How are we going to address this?’ It feels like there’s always a new challenge.”

Christopher traces the values that drive his work back to Boxerwood, which he says “definitely gave me a sense of importance of treating the world we live in respectfully, and taking care of it.” He went on, “I feel like those are the core tenets of Boxerwood – respecting the land around you and understanding how much it provides. What that’s given me is this desire in the work that I do…You feel like you’re making a difference. That you’re at least cleaning up – or helping clean up – this small piece of land that could be valuable to someone in the future.” 

As Christopher knows firsthand, these values can be especially powerful when imparted to young people. Teaching sustainability to youth, he said, “helps give kids the ability to understand that it doesn’t have to be a huge action that you’re doing that’s saving the world. You can do little bits here and there, and that makes a difference.” 

19 years later, who knew a trip down the James River would carry a wide-eyed 12-year old into a lifetime vocation of tending our planet?