Interns arrived at Shirley Heinze Land Trust this summer with a variety of skill sets and emerged with a wide variety of experiences.
Conservation Director Alicia Pellegrino worked directly with the 14 interns. “The passion and energy they bring really is contagious for the staff and the partners they get to interact with,” she said.
Executive Director Kris Krouse said the interns’ contributions are invaluable.
“Having an internship at Shirley Heinze Land Trust is setting the stage for taking land conservation to the next level in this region,” he said.
“It’s hard to assign a value to these experiences in terms of a direct monetary benefit to the organization,” Krouse said. “What the benefit is that makes it invaluable is all of these students are bringing creativity, new ideas, technology and new perspectives to how we can not just do a better job of preserving all the places we’re protecting and doing a better job of connecting with people,” but also be more resilient for the future.
“All of the students this year knocked these projects out of the park.”
“This program is creating that next generation of environmental, conservation, stewardship leaders for not just this region” but also elsewhere, Krouse said. “The implications can be significant.”
The interns gave presentations Wednesday on what they did and what they learned.
“I love trees, I love forest ecology, entomology, and especially the geology of Northwest Indiana,” Leah Streetman, a senior at Indiana University Northwest, said.
Her internship was spent outside. It was a perfect fit for her. “I grew up as an outside child. I ran around in bare feet,” Streetman said. “I want to do the thing that I’m outside most.”
“I’m physically strong, and I’m mentally strong,” she said. That worked in her favor as she used both brain and brawn out in the field.
“It’s not glamorous. It’s muddy boots, bug bites, stubborn plants,” Streetman said.
With all the severe storms this summer, she was clearing trees that had fallen on trails, along with creating new trails.
“It was really hot, and I was in the thick of it,” she said.
Streetman learned what many homeowners quickly learn. “We had a lot of trips to Menards to get some tools we needed,” she said.
Among her tasks was trying to get rid of invasive species, using a backpack sprayer or wiping a chemical herbicide onto a plant using cotton gloves.
One of the tricks is knowing which plants to protect and which should perish. That meant learning how to identify native plants and invasives.
“I think that was the best thing I learned this summer is all the plants I had to learn,” Streetman said.
“Nature has a funny way of keeping you humble,” she said. Invasives are tough to kill. “Your work is never simple, and it almost never goes exactly as planned.”
“It’s muddy, it’s hot, it’s sweaty. It’s definitely not for everybody,” she said.
Working at a vernal pool in the wilds left an impression on Streetman. “All those mosquitoes, there’s thousands of them, and they go, EEEEE!”
That didn’t take a bite out of her enthusiasm for the outdoors.
Her perspective has now changed, in fact, and she doesn’t want to leave Northwest Indiana. “I’m the biggest cheerleader for this area.”
Courtney Way, of DeMotte, is a Valparaiso University senior majoring in accounting.
While Streetman spent her summer inside, Way was busy inside.
“I did a lot of focus in the database,” she said, including creating a new way to record volunteer hours. Instead of filling out paper forms and putting the information into a spreadsheet, Shirley Heinze is now using a QR code with an online form that automatically adds the information to the database to streamline the work and reduce errors.
In cleaning up the database, Way realized there were judgment calls to make. If a person donated $20 in 1995 and hasn’t interacted with the nonprofit since then, what’s the value in continuing to keep that person’s contact information?
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Way also helped create an operations guide for the nonprofit and worked on creating an alumni program to create a long-lasting community of interns.
Anna Wagner, of Carmel, is a junior at Indiana University in Bloomington. She focused on coastal resilience, including demographic and geographic research. She also helped with a water quality study. “I’ve never seen culverts like that before,” she said.
Wagner also learned about community engagement, including attending a county fair for her first time.
Lillie Borzenski, of Schererville, is a junior at IU. Her father is an architect, and she’s following in his footsteps. Borzenski designed a layout for raised planters. “I know way too much about irrigation systems now and how much they cost,” she said.
Lots of considerations factor in to designing urban farms, she realized.
Elizabeth Calleja-Castillo, of South Bend, is a junior at Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus. “Research and storytelling was not my forte, but I can tell you it is now,” she said.
Environmental education was good practice for Calleja-Castillo, who worked on watershed story maps.
Hailey Smith, of LaPorte, and Kenzie Calinski, of Schererville, worked on projects together, including “hiking through really, really diverse ecosystems,” places the public doesn’t normally touch, Calinski said.
“Hailey and I will come out of here learning probably 50 different native plant species,” she said. They used Milestone, a selective herbicide, on broadleaf woody species like bittersweet, which spreads across the ground. “We call it carpet sometimes.”
Smith learned about social trails, shortcuts that branch off from designated trails. If used repeatedly, they can harm the environment. Smith and Calinski installed countless signs and used social media for educational outreach.
They also worked on water quality issues, Calinski said, including seeing how fluorescent dye is used in the lab to detect the presence of E. coli bacteria.
They also learned about using mussels to filter water before it reaches Lake Michigan. “We even got to touch a few,” Calinski said.
Carrying chainsaws and heavy equipment on kayaks to clear logjams was an experience, too – including seeing a water snake emerging from a log.
Paij Rhymes, of Gary, is a junior at Indiana University Northwest. “I’ve learned how to network and connect with a variety of different people,” she said, as she helped teach kids.
Rhymes worked as a communications assistant. “I’m very visual,” she said, so when she sees a cool sticker or shirt, “I’m naturally going to be drawn to it.”
Chrystal Hernes, of Valparaiso, is a sophomore at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. When she arrived to help with water quality testing, a newly arrived colorimeter was still in the box. She taught herself how it works, then taught her supervisor how to use it. Hernes also updated the website so the community can learn how water quality is impacted and how Shirley Heinze is working on it.
Esai Hernandez, a Valparaiso University student, installed temporary signage at Meadowbrook and created a standard operating procedure for conservation signage. “People leave trash everywhere, so remember that with your trash tonight,” he said.
Faith Aurand, of Highland, is a sophomore studying civil engineering at Purdue. “I did lots of parking lots,” she said, including seeing how they install gravel parking lots.
Aurand also helped design a new bridge for Meadowbrook Nature Preserve, where Shirley Heinze Land Trust is based.
Brooke Lakin, of Michigan City, is a sophomore at Purdue. “I love native flora and fauna,” she said. Lakin worked with gardens. “We are getting a lot of food out of it right now, and our tomatoes are amazing.”
“I’m also known for bringing snakes into the office,” surprising someone who was on a call by showing him the snake she was holding.
CJ Kovacs, of Portage, is a Purdue graduate student. “I spent a lot of my life playing in the dunes and growing up in this area,” she said. “One of my big tasks was data management and organization,” which reduced costs for online storage by $427.05.
“I got my hands in almost every project going on,” Kovacs said.
Aria Davis, of Gary, is a senior at Valparaiso University. She worked on a marketing plan for the entire organization and a special plan for conservation. Davis also created elevator pitches for staff to concisely describe the work Shirley Heinze does.
“You need good data to tell a good story, and you need a good story to make people care,” Davis said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.