• Name: Jackelin Treviño
• Location: McAllen, Texas
• Contribution: Border wall activist

How did you first get involved with the Sierra Club? I was co-president of the Environmental Awareness Club in college. The local Sierra Club chapter asked us to help defeat a proposition to fund a park-investment package. It sounded really good, but tucked into it was this proposal to turn old-growth forest at what is now the McAllen Nature Center into tennis courts. We made signs; we got an ad in the paper; we held a press conference—all in two to three weeks. The public voted against the proposition. 

Where did you go from there? I was a Sierra Club intern in D.C., and then I helped launch a Beyond Coal campaign in Asheville, North Carolina. A lot of what I bring to the table as a volunteer here in McAllen comes from those professional experiences. 

Your hometown is on the border with Mexico. What would a wall mean for your community? The first word that comes to mind is cataclysm. We have less than 3 percent of our native biodiversity left. The wall threatens to completely pave it over or put it on the other side. A wall would also have devastating economic impacts because this area is so intertwined with Mexico. 

What are you and other border wall activists hoping to achieve? One of our goals is to get every city in the Rio Grande Valley to pass a resolution against the wall. We already have at least 15 cities and two counties on record as opposing it.

Do you think there's a chance of stopping it? I don't think there is room to do the work unless you believe there's a chance. But you also have to acknowledge that we already have walls. One fence in the town of Hidalgo cuts a nature center off from the land it's meant to protect. There's a sign that says Pedestrian Walking Trail, and it points to the wrought iron bollards of the fence. 

What do you do when you're not volunteering for the Sierra Club? I am a classically trained ballet, tap, and jazz dancer. I run a local community theater company, and I am a yoga instructor.

For a short time, I worked at the McAllen Nature Center. I started programs like free community yoga. I reflect on that nature center a lot. It serves as a little beacon of hope that we can win, because we won before. I feel like I have a friendship with that park.

This article appeared in the January/February 2018 edition with the headline "Warding Off the Wall."