During May of 2022, I completed a month-long internship with the Washington Conservation District. They are a local government unit in Washington County, MN, dedicated to water and soil conservation initiatives. I interned with the Water Education Senior Specialist, Angie Hong. I produced news articles detailing town council meetings, district workshops, and presentations. This work included interviewing presenting experts and community members and photographing the event. I also developed educational writing and infographics about cities’ sustainability initiatives.
The internship was a part of the senior project I completed for graduation from high school. The other aspects of the project included volunteering at Afton State Park with the Interpretive Naturalist Linda Radimecky. I organized educational materials, prepared school field trips, and oversaw safety protocols during archery field trips.
Below is the portfolio of work that I completed during my internship.
Afton Planning Committee Groundwater Meeting (p. 2): This article underwent the most edits in order to achieve the right tone and include the right information that would be best perceived by a general audience. This article was published in the Cottage Grove Journal.
The Munch Bunch Goat Workshop (p. 5): This was such a fun event, and article to write. I was playful with my voice which allowed me to write an article that is interesting to the general public and communicates useful information. This article was published in the Country Messenger. An accompanying graphic is on pg. 6 and images from the event are on pg. 8-9.
Woodbury City Hall & Public Safety Sustainability Tour (p. 10): This article was a bit of a challenge to organize because of the task at hand. Woodbury has completed a ton of work to test sustainability projects in the city’s buildings but has done little writing or education about them. The task given to me was to write an article that could be published as a whole or broken into pieces on a website or flyer.
Stillwater Rain Garden Maintenance Workshop (p. 13): This was the article that I felt the most comfortable writing. It was a simple news article that I’d written dozens of times for The Rubicon or other projects. This article will be used by the Washington Conservation District to advertise future workshops. Images that I took at the event are on pg. 14.
SMART Irrigation Controllers Graphics (p. 15): Washington Conservation District needed graphics about SMART Irrigation Controllers that they could share with the public and with nearby cities that are looking to share more information about them. They needed graphics that could be printed as half flyers and ones to be shared on a variety of social media platforms.