Education Associate at Fern Hollow Nature Center
Fishing camp for 3rd to 5th graders; this was our lake day and one of the students caught a giant catfish!
Imagine it’s a crisp early morning in June, getting to a nature center and starting your day there. The mornings were like no other before the day had started for the campers to arrive. The meadow is vivid with life, red-winged black birds and robins scouring for their breakfast. Deer were startled to see you walk by with their new fawns. At this time, the sun is just beaming over the trees. You're the first to arrive, and you open the doors to prepare for a day of learning at the nature center. This is what seemed to be every day that I got to spend at Fern Hollow throughout the summer.
Hello, my name is Grace Waller, and from May to August, I completed an internship at a Non-Profit organization called Fern Hollow Nature Center. This organization, which I have happily worked with for two years now, mainly focuses on creating, “unique learning opportunities that foster a love and appreciation of our environment.” While interning here, my role for the nature center was as an environmental educator assistant for summer camps and events. This internship mainly consisted of three elements: education, lesson planning, and grounds work. I aided in teaching and also lesson planned on my own accord with the help of lead educators. I led a total of four lessons for both early childhood and elementary summer camps. Summer camps usually lasted either 9 am till Noon, Noon till 4 pm, or the full day 9 am-4 pm. They were every day, week-long summer camps, and I engaged in a mix of all three different time periods. These camps included different age groups, either 3 to 5-year-olds or 3rd to 5th-graders.
Summer camps that I participated in teaching were Watershed Warriors, Fishing, Sustainability Stars, Mother Nature's, Art in Nature, and Soil to Plate. All of these had their own types of learning for different age groups. Watershed Warriors consists of learning about our watershed and what makes a stream healthy. We did this by going down to Little Sewickley Creek and kick-netting for macro-invertebrates. Another camp we did was Mother Nature's, which consisted of learning about the environment around us and observing. A day would look like going on a hike to see how many different meadow birds we could spot. Fern Hollow provides many camps with different learning experiences.
When I wasn't doing summer camps, I had one-day events that I co-led. This would include National Get Outdoors Day, Family Fishing, Creek Days, Nature Hikes, and Family Archery. All of these were great, easy for families to get outdoors and learn about the environment around them. Not only was there teaching involved for this internship, but also ground work. That could mean setting up bat boxes, weeding, organizing, tending to the garden, or fixing the story walk. All of these tasks were important to maintenance for classes/camps that we led.
One thing that I did this summer that I definitely will never forget was learning how to tie fishing knots, and getting to teach what I had learned to the campers. Some knots I learned were surgeon's knots and blood knots that were important for fixing or setting up a fishing rod. The fishing overall was a unique experience, as having a private pond was so special. The kids especially loved it, as many of them had never experienced catching a fish, and every student had a chance to catch one or more.
One of the most significant accomplishments that I had working was definitely making up lesson plans. Putting work into lesson plans is a lot of effort, with many elements to consider in order for the lesson to have substance and engagement. The lesson plan on salmon migrations and life cycles was my biggest feat for this internship. For the fishing camp we did at the start of the summer, I, as an intern, led a camp for one day. I taught the campers on the salmon life cycle, and that included their migration patterns. After a brief interactive lesson, I decided that for them to better understand salmon migrations, they had to be the salmon. I created an obstacle course for them to compete in to better understand what salmon go through in their development.
To sum up my performance at Fern Hollow Nature Center as an education associate, I got a quote from my manager. She put in her own words how I did: “Grace really stepped up this summer, excelling in grounds work and environmental education. In terms of grounds, she helped maintain the garden, outdoor classroom, and assisted in identifying native plant species for students. During her time as an EE, she developed lesson plans for specific nature programs and educational games. I was happy to have Grace as an intern because she was proactive, followed instructions well, and had an amazing educator presence.” (Cam Elko)
All in all, this internship really helped me shape my perspective on better grasping what it’s like to be an environmental educator. Also helped me realize what I was looking for more in a career path. An important life skill that I developed is professional communication, and management skills. Which I’m glad I grasped because that is going to be very important for my future career endeavors. I really did love this internship. It's very engaging and hands-on, especially if you’re considering an education route. I would totally recommend this internship to anyone in the Pittsburgh area who’s interested in an environmental pathway.
