On Wednesday, April 5, Ashley Award winners Maya and Dana “Denley” Delaney ’13 presented their trailblazing work in ocean conservation and sustainability to the Deerfield community.
Each year, the Executive Committee of Deerfield’s Alumni Association selects an alumnus to honor with the Ashley Award, named after Tom Ashley Class of 1911, who demonstrated “exemplary character and extraordinary devotion to a people, cause, or place through service.” Director of Alumni Relations Jennifer Hammond said, “The committee hoped that uniting the concepts of service and young alums will result in honoring these deserving Deerfield graduates, who could then serve as guideposts for current students.”
The selection process begins with a preliminary list of seven candidates, which student Advancement Ambassadors and the Nominating Committee of the Alumni Association Executive Committee vote on through many rounds. In years past, the Executive Committee has convened to decide on one final award winner. This year, however, they selected two winners.
The Delaney sisters are leaders in the crucial fields of ocean conservation and sustainability. After graduating from Deerfield in 2013, they both attended Stanford University. Denley Delaney received her Bachelor’s degree in marine science and then a Master’s in environmental communication. Maya Delaney received her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a Master’s degree in sustainability and is now working towards her Master of Business Administration degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. Before her time at MIT, Maya Delaney worked at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a geopolitical consulting firm, advising companies on proactive climate finance projects. She served as one of the Bahamas’ Ambassadors for Youth Climate Action, where she spoke at the UN’s COP26 about ocean finance. Denley Delaney is currently a Senior Manager on the Exploration Technology team at National Geographic. She utilizes underwater technology to communicate the necessity of preserving and protecting the ocean to the general public. Both sisters credit their upbringing in the Bahamas as a primary inspiration for their work on climate change.
Maya Delaney said, “As someone who hasn’t lived full time in the Bahamas since I was thirteen because I came to boarding school and [have] lived in the States ever since, it’s been an active decision to focus on the country that I’m from. It’s driven by a passion for wanting to see the Caribbean, small islands across Southeast Asia, and across East Africa have a viable future.”
Despite how much they have accomplished over the last decade, the Delaney sisters also experience occasional discouragement working in sustainability. However, they choose to remain hopeful about the future. Denley Delaney said, “I mean, we would sort of be kidding ourselves if we said it wasn’t a reality, but we are also at a unique point in time where if we act now, we have the ability to change the trajectory and come up with innovative solutions.”
She added, explaining how more and more people worldwide are coming to understand the necessity of our oceans in global climate: “We are currently in the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, and so a lot of countries are rallying around this right now. There’s lots of collaboration as well in this space, so while it can sometimes be a little bit disheartening looking at the reality, we are so uniquely positioned to change the way things are for the better.”
Maya Delaney explained the frustration she experiences working in climate finance, where she often witnesses large corporations make empty promises, using phrases such as “net zero by 2030.” She uses this frustration to motivate her further: “For me, a way that I find optimism is by placing myself in the seat of someone who helps to make those promises a reality.” This strategy is what she calls “being on the side of the implementer.”
Although 10 years may not seem long when considering Deerfield’s history, the Delaney sisters observed significant changes to the campus culture of sustainability upon revisiting. After visiting Science Teacher Rich Calhoun’s Research in Sustainability class, Maya Delaney reflected on incorporating climate into curriculums: “Ten years ago, generally speaking, climate change wasn’t a topic that was woven into the classroom. To see the fact that it’s not seen as a ‘specialized’ area of study is already a massive change in itself.” Though the problems being considered within the classroom may be different than ten years ago, the Delaney sisters recognized the lessons they learned at Deerfield and how they employ them constantly in their careers. “Certainly independence, critical thinking, and forward thinking. If there’s an issue at hand, I’m not just gonna say, ‘Oh, we have this issue.’ I want to come with a solution,” Denley Delaney said.
The Delaney sisters also offered invaluable advice for the Deerfield student considering a future career in sustainability. “Know that there are so many different pathways, and they all require a different set of skills. You can be on the science side of things. You can be on the policymaking side of things. You can be doing climate scenario analysis. You might wanna be on the finance side of things. There’s room for literally everybody who is interested in this topic,” said Maya Delaney.