What was it like to be a Research and Community Science intern at the Urban Ecology Center?

Where do I even start? I met a lot of passionate people and did several interesting animal surveys. If you stopped by any of the Urban Ecology Center (UEC) branches during the summer, you probably found three young adults with clipboards in hand and backpacks strapped tight walking through the parks. Depending on what time of the summer you came, we either looked slightly confused or highly confident (I am happy to say that the latter was at the end of the summer).

As Milwaukee’s urban ecosystem fills with the energy brought by more sunlight, blossoming plants and wildlife, the Urban Ecology Center overflows with people looking to enjoy the outdoors. How do we handle this great opportunity? With outstanding summer interns!

This year 28 interns spent 12 weeks exploring their dreams and ambitions while they worked to connect people to nature and each other.

Here at the Urban Ecology Center, we strive to teach children about science and the outdoors by helping them explore the nature in their own neighborhoods. During the school year our team of professional environmental educators accomplish this by leading field trips. Once the warm weather arrives children flood our Centers as part of Summer Camp and our staff need reinforcements; that’s where our summer educator interns come in!

Summer internships tend to get a pretty bad rap; most people hear the phrase and immediately conjure up images of windowless offices with fluorescent lighting, mind numbing data entry tasks, and endless coffee runs. At the Urban Ecology Center, however, interns do pretty much everything but sit in an office! Over the last two weeks, the Center’s thirty summer interns participated in training and teambuilding activities at all three branches, and we had a blast doing it. Check out these highlights!