Michelle Franklin

Michelle grew up in the snowy state of Michigan and spent many summers camping with her extended family "up north" over the years. In 2014, she graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with a Bachelor of Science and a background in community building and social justice. During her college career, she was an RA and spent most of her summers living at a biological stations. As a graduation present, Michelle's parents gifted her with her first backpacking backpack and the rest was history! Since then, she has spent time in Western Australia as a Research Assistant on a PhD project on bottlenose dolphins, hostel-hopped along the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and Belize, and took a beginners German language course during a summer in Berlin. Most recently, she worked in California for the Catalina Island Marine Institute where students from all over the Western US visit to learn about the environment, and go kayaking, hiking, and snorkeling in the ocean! Michelle finds she is the happiest when she is taking pictures of fish underwater, diving into the sand to dig a beach volleyball hit, or meeting and learning about new people. She also enjoys eating chocolate, making weird sound effects, and laughing uncontrollably. Michelle is definitely looking forward to her first summer with RLT!