Annual Summer High School Internship, Oakland

As the Land Stewardship and Education Manager for Friends of Sausal Creek in Oakland, California, for four years (2014-2017) I developed, coordinated, and led an annual summer high school internship program for 10-15 local youth. This program ran for five weeks each July through August, and involved sensory and science-based observational activities, naturalist hikes and lessons, group readings and discussions on sustainability topics, creative writing workshops, hands-on restoration, growing, and construction projects, independent reflection and journaling, and improvisational and leadership activities.

As the manager and leader of this program, I organized student schedules, developed curriculum, prioritized and delegated field tasks, integrated ecological concepts into projects, provided students with ongoing guidance and constructive feedback, supported increasing levels of responsibility and leadership, and encouraged analytical and ecological thinking, problem solving, and teamwork.

Before managing this program, I also served as a year-long mentor for a group of 15 high school students participating in the SLEWS (Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship) program at the Center for Land-Based Learning.