Meet Our Staff

 Melissa Parrott is the Executive Director of Renewable Energy Long Island (reLI) and the Founder of Students for Climate Action (S4CA). She has been in the environmental education field for over 25 years.  After receiving her degree from California State University, Long Beach, she focused her career in environmental education, attending Harvard University for environmental policy. Melissa became the Director of Environmental Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, working directly with the Governor and the Education Commissioner to incorporate environmental education into the State standards and using the environment as an integrated context for learning throughout cross curricula. In 2015, Melissa was trained by former Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project (CRP) on climate science and communications. She is now a Mentor, Chairperson of the CRP: Suffolk Chapter, and an active Climate Reality Leader working with youth and climate action campaigns. Prior to joining reLI, Melissa was the Director of Education and Outreach for the Central Pine Barrens Commission.

Harrison Gifford Bench has served as the Deputy Executive Director of Students for Climate Action (S4CA) since 2020. He first joined S4CA (formerly the Suffolk Student Climate Action Committee) as a sophomore in high school and served as the President of the Sayville chapter. During his time with S4CA, he has spoken at countless public forums, met with dozens of elected officials, and mentored hundreds of youth activists – all to lobby for common sense climate and energy initiatives. Harrison was the first youth member of the Islip Town Environmental Council and is a certified Climate Reality Leader. In addition to working for S4CA, he is pursing a Juris Doctor from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale School of the Environment. Harrison has interned with EPA, NOAA, the NY Department of Public Service, the SC Department of Environmental Services, both chambers of Congress, private law firms, and legal research centers at Pace. After graduation, he hopes to practice climate and energy law in New York State.

Sophia Dimont is Sustainability Studies student at Stony Brook University, concentrating in Societies, Economics, and Governance track. She serves as a senator on the Undergraduate Student Government, allocating budgets to student organizations and advocating for stronger campus sustainability initiatives.

At Students for Climate Action, Sophia works as a Program Coordinator. In this role, she writes letters to the editor to local newspapers, testifies at town hearings, and meets with New York legislators to advocate for renewable energy on Long Island. She is also responsible for co-hosting biweekly meetings with S4CA’s high school members and guiding them through advocacy action items and civic engagement opportunities

Outside of advocacy work, Sophia competes on her university’s sailing team and enjoys arts and crafts projects.