Exploration

July 10, 2014 Posted by: A Koller

This past week, I worked unsupervised successfully. To be honest, I was a bit nervous to work alone at first on the fourth of July (one of the busiest days of the year on the farm), although everything went smoothly.I feel as if I'm starting to get the hang of working at the Park desk on the farm and being a mansion steward. I had a wonderful time meeting some other interns from SCIP; I will be attending their youth summit in August so it was great meeting them ahead of time to discuss their plans. I additionally gained some valuable insight, since the George Perkins Marsh Interns be planning our own summit later on in the summer. I was also privileged to spend some time with other divisions this week, including curatorial (where I may shadow later) and other park resources. I assisted in invasive species removal (we disposed of a multitude of "Dame's Rocket") and spent a great deal of time outside. I went on a tour of the Future of the Forest and learned about issues the local woods have in addition to hiking to the Pogue.

Although it is not a primary focus of mine, I am learning how to identify the local flora; I can now tell the difference between sugar, red, and silver maple, as well as some invasive species. This week, I also participated in numerous leadership development activities led by my mentor. I took a few personality quizzes, which not only indicated my characteristics but also provided an opportunity to learn more about the other interns. Additionally, I had a period of deep self-reflection, which will be continued at a later date at Walden Pond.