Jonathan was born in Westchester County, New York, but grew up in South Florida, aside from a year spent in Thailand during primary school. He grew up surrounded by nature, and both of his parents traveled extensively for work, so it’s not surprising that conservation biology and tropical ecology became his largest passions in life, along with English poetry and literature. Throughout high school Jonathan committed himself to research in tropical ecology, traveling annually to Guyana and pursuing projects on topics from the vocalizations of fish to the mating strategies of birds. He graduated from high school in Coconut Creek, Florida, last year, and moved to New Haven, Connecticut to begin his first year at Yale University. At Yale he is pursuing a double major in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and English, with the goal of ultimately going into global public health or biological research.