This year’s Luing Family Internship Program Environmental Education Interns spent 12 weeks leading public education programs and interacting with visitors of all ages, while braving the mud, bugs, salt water, and sun to create the best visitor experience possible. They worked hard and through it all developed the skills needed to continue their careers in the environmental education field. Each year, interns are asked to develop and implement an education project of their choosing that is personally and/or institutionally beneficial. The development of individual projects assists them in honing skill sets that are essential to creating fundamentally successful programs or initiatives within the field of environmental education.
Pictured left to right: Aubrey Smith, Wiley Koskinen, Alyssa Margerum
Intern Projects Overview
Wiley Koskinen (Goucher College) directed and produced a Why You Should Care participatory video documentary that showcases part of the work done at The Wetlands Institute, and how young adults can contribute to conservation efforts. Specifically, it highlights the research and conservation work of the Coastal Conservation and Research Program Interns as well as the Environmental Education Interns and their various public programs.
Aubrey Smith (Montclair State University) updated the Plankton Creature Feature to expand the meroplankton section, adding slides on crabs, horseshoe crabs, fish, and sea stars plus the addition of a short interactive quiz, updated speaker notes and enhanced educational materials featuring life cycle diagrams for highlighted species.
Alyssa Margerum (Kutztown University) created a tide tank in the Secrets of the Salt Marsh Aquarium that will fluctuate in water level to show what it looks like during high versus low tide, along with a series of posters discussing the biological and chemical differences between high and low tide as well as the impact climate change has on the tide. For younger audiences to explore this concept, there is an interactive bitmoji space on the Virtual Wetlands Experience.