Aside from actively protesting against logging in the Shawnee National Forest, three local environmentalists say they also take on the role of student, parent and friend.

One environmentalist, in addition to protesting for the environment, is married and has three children. Jan Wilder-Thomas said she has been a protester for 10 years and incorporates raising a family with her involvement in the environmental movement.

Wilder-Thomas, along with several area protesters, camped out at the Cripps Bend area of the Shawnee National Forest for about two weeks in early September when a federal judge ruled that logging in the area could commence. Wilder-Thomas was one of eight people to be arrested during the protest while demonstrating in a restricted logging area.

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Wilder-Thomas said she educates her children at home in order to teach them what she feels is important, including protecting the environment.

I keep my kids at home and have raised them on the front lines, Wilder-Thomas said. They are well aware of what the dangers are. I’ve educated them with the information they need to protect themselves.

Wilder-Thomas said her three children, ages 11 to 18, are her biggest supporters.

They know what’s at stake, Wilder-Thomas said. It’s a deadly society we live in, and I’ve tried to share this with my children.

Wilder-Thomas is employed as the director of the Shawnee Defense Fund, a group which works to educate the public about the Shawnee National Forest.

Some of the protesters involved in the environmental movement said they have a different act to juggle protesting against what they consider harmful activity to the environment while filling the roles of SIUC students at the same time.

Kristen Kordecki, a senior in elementary education from Hanover Park, who was involved in the recent protest against the timber harvest at Cripps Bend, said it takes a lot of hoping that others will accept her desire to protest.

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You have to hope that you’ll have an understanding with professors, employers, friends and family, she said. But I know I was out there doing what I needed to do.

Kordecki was arrested twice while protesting at Cripps Bend. She said she became involved in protesting because of people’s views of society.

It saddens me to see the way people look at society now, she said.

Another SIUC student protester, Holly Harris, said that many times she gets stereotyped as a flunky because she actively protests for the environmental movement.

I’m a good student, she said. It (protesting) doesn’t subtract from my school work. I manage to get good grades.

Harris, a senior in plant biology and member of the SIUC Student Environmental Center, said her grades are high enough to earn her a place on the dean’s list.

Harris, who was also arrested at Cripps Bend, said she has been involved in the environmental movement since she was 16.

I felt something needed to be done, she said. Everyone had their part in changing the problems of the world.

Harris said being a protester in the environmental movement has not been easy. Because of her participation in the environmental movement, certain aspects of her life are lacking, she said.

I don’t have much of a social life. I go to school, work and volunteer my time to the environment, she said. But you have to make a sacrifice for what you believe in. Otherwise you’re just a hypocrite.