Mosaics in Washington D.C.

20 Sep Mosaics in Washington D.C.

Throughout the internship we interns connected virtually during webinars and in a group chat. We finally met each other and the Environment for the Americas team at the Mosaics in Science Career and Leadership Workshop in Washington D.C. We also met the Latino Heritage Internship Program (LHIP) interns. This was my first time ever visiting Washington D.C. It was thrilling to meet the other interns and hear about their parks and projects. We met in the Main Interior Building to watch internship presentations. I learned how important it is to stay on trails in national parks to preserve their fragile ecosystems. There were many guest speakers including Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, NPS Director Charles Sams, author James Edward Mills, and panels about federal jobs.

The poster presentation was the highlight of the trip for me. There was such a wide range of projects from so many different national parks and scientific disciplines. I was honored to have James Edward Mills see my poster. His book “The Adventure Gap” was inspirational and he was kind enough to sign my copy.

One of my favorite activities was when we split into teams for a photo scavenger hunt. I was on team “Electric Eel” with Julia, Jailyn, Taro, Ivan, and Keily. It was fun to find murals in the Main Interior Building and walk around the National Mall as a group.

This internship was incredible; I learned so much about the National Park Service and met so many remarkable people. Special thanks to my supervisor, Geographic Information Systems Specialist Britta Schroeder for giving me an amazing project, Park Geologist Denny Capps for letting me tag along with the geology crew for some field work, and to Sheylda Díaz-Méndez and the rest of the EFTA Mosaics in Science team for their support. I am looking forward to what lies ahead in my career.