This summer I worked for Winneshiek County Conservation (WCC) as a summer intern, and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience, full of different opportunities all across the county. I had the opportunity to work closely with Hanna Meyer, Winneshiek County Conservation’s Education & Outreach Coordinator, on a variety of environmental educational programs and outreach events. I started off the summer by jumping right into Discovery Camp, WCC’s three-week series of day camps designed to connect kids to nature and teach them new skills.
Throughout the summer, I led and assisted with educational programs at daycares, teaching kids about fish and fishing, rocks, the rock cycle, habitats, watersheds and pollution, wildlife safety, and birdwatching. The kids had fun engaging with the nature all around them through games and hands-on activities. We also brought our programming to local libraries for this summer’s theme: “Level Up Your Water.” Participants caught aquatic macroinvertebrates such as crawdads, caddisflies, and dragonfly larvae. Based on which species they found, they could determine the quality of water, a valuable lesson in ecology and conservation.
In addition to environmental education, I taught kids orienteering and geocaching, manned outreach booths at several events, like NICC’s Grill & Chill on the Farm, the Winneshiek County Fair, and the Decorah Farmers’ Market, and even tagged turtles with the Iowa DNR on Lake Meyer. I also worked with and led a breadth of outdoor programs, including kayaking, flower pounding, archery, the Nordic Fest Crater Hike, leaf-casting, and more. I even got to make my own lesson plan and develop online quizzes about local nature species.
One of the highlights of my summer was hosting a full night of conservation-themed trivia in downtown Decorah to a crowd of over 150 people. I’ve been a die-hard trivia goer for a couple years, so it was incredibly fun to create and run the event. My fellow intern and I wrote all the questions ourselves, and it was rewarding to give a wider audience a better awareness of the importance of protecting our unique wildlife and landscapes in a fun, new way.
On the maintenance side of things, I helped manage the parks around Winneshiek County. Sometimes that meant pulling weeds; other times, it meant cleaning pit toilets. Though these things are often overlooked, tasks like these are important for visitors and make a huge difference in their experience.
What meant the most to me this summer was how connected I felt to the community and the environment and how involved I was in strengthening that connection for other people. Listening to people share how much these parks, trails, and programs mean to them reminded me of why this work matters; from cleaning up the bike trail to teaching kids and seeing them enjoy nature and being outside while they learn about the world they live in.
I met new people and took on new responsibilities in conservation and education. As someone who grew up loving the outdoors, it was meaningful to share that passion with others, kids and adults alike. This internship helped me learn a lot about myself and further solidified my interest in conservation ecology and environmental education as a career path, and I’m grateful for the experience and knowledge I earned this summer.