My Internship Experience

May 23rd, After having a nice long weekend I am ready to go into another adventure filled week. I never really talked about my commute to work, to be honest it is really not on topic for this blog but hey it is still apart of the experience. 40 minutes.... yup 40 minutes to get from my home to my work. normally it takes 25 minutes but today I decided to take a different route to work (I really didn't mean to take an alternate route). I got back onto the main road that is right before the road my work is located on and I was lucky I took the way I did because I would of been late to work (there was a car accident that was just finishing being cleaned up). okay I guess I will get back on track... So the first thing we did today was collect some bugs. we had three sites to monitor because the people who would be restoring Avon creek needed the before and after data. we did two before data checks and then we collected some after data (one of the sites were already restored). We fou...

When you work in my type of environment you need a field bag. when I say my type of environment I mean you are outdoors 75% of the time, in the rain, sunshine, etc. Here are what you should pack and keep in your car ALL of the time... Extra shirt Extra pants Extra socks Extra underwear (just in case you fall into the river and get water down your waders) Extra shoes Rain Jacket Sunscreen  Bugspray First aid kit Sanitizer Hat or sunglasses Cell phone I really hope this list helps you out when you are about to go out into the field. 

May 15th:  So the only thing we did today was Stream Leaders. Another day of helping students learn about why bugs are important to our water systems and how they help us tell how healthy the water is. one thing off topic, on the walk to the site one nice man, came up to us and said hi and right behind him were four little ducklings. Apparently, the mother was not to be seen and they waited several hours and still no mom (one of my co-workers after our event asked the employees of the park about the babies and they said that a rehabilitation center took the babies in). back on track though, we got to the site and everything was going well so far and I got into my waders and I thought to myself I have a feeling these waders will fill up with water since the sole of the boot was wet. Well, I got into the water and long behold water started filling my waders and most of my jeans got soaked and my socks got soaked. I decided it was best I got out of the water and dry off and lea...

May 10th, Today started off pretty well. we went up to Shelby Township to do a weekly clean on Stoney Creek. We cleaned up and down the banks of Stoney Creek, picking up a lot of trash. We found a lot of buckets, tires, metal pipes, wooden pallets, and food wrappers. My co-worker and I, along with our supervisor got into the creek to remove a man-made bridge. I was amazed at how some people in our community have little regard to what their bridge may have caused. Luckily with the help of township hall, the owners of the bridge agreed to us taking down the bridge to restore healthy water levels. I was also amazed about how many people were wanting to help with the cleanup. After having lunch my co-worker and I started preparing for our presentations at the upcoming water festivals. To be honest I am nervous for these festivals. I have bad social anxiety and if you have ever experienced social anxiety you are afraid of how people will think of you, you constantly worry about who is j...

May 2nd through May 5th, So my first week was exciting and nerve wracking. I suffer from Social Anxiety, which I thought it would affect me negatively this summer. well, so far I was wrong. I do not know if it's because I feel more at ease around people who have the same interest in the environment as I do or what not, or if I am starting to overcome my anxiety issue. May 2nd: My first day was not too exciting since it was raining. But, I did learn how to put Adopt a Stream kits together. Adopt a Stream is a program that involves CRWC employees and the public in monitoring several different sites throughout the Clinton River Watershed. This event happens twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. What we are trying to find out is what kinds of water bugs are living in the water, depending on which group they fall in (Group 1, 2, and 3) tells us how healthy the water is. Group 1 bugs are pollution sensitive, Group 2 bugs are still sensitive but can tolerate a ...

Hi Everyone,  Welcome to my blog, I figured I would write about my experience throughout my first internship. I guess I will start out with who I am. Well, my name is Mary and I am a senior at Eastern Michigan University about to graduate with a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science and Society. As a requirement for graduation, I need to complete 150 hours at an internship in my field. I am very lucky and thankful that I was offered the opportunity to work for the Clinton River Watershed Council this summer. Like I said this is my first internship and I would like for you to join me on the journey.  In this blog, I hope to post once a week about the overview of what I had done during that week. I will post a few entries about how I am feeling about the internship and anything new I have learned while working for the CRWC. -Mary