Chesapeake Summer Interns Join our Team

Summer is a busy time at the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office! Field season is in full swing, we're hosting summer workshops for educators, and there's lots of incoming habitat and fisheries data to analyze. So it's a great time for us to welcome students for 12-week summer internships.

Our interns gain knowledge and experience, and we benefit from having additional talented staff members for the summer. Every intern's project contributes to the health of the Chesapeake Bay. And every intern works closely with mentors who provide guidance for their Chesapeake Bay-focused projects and collaborates with our experts.

We partner with the Chesapeake Research Consortiumto make these internships possible. Some of our interns also participate in the Consortium's Chesapeake Student Recruitment, Early Advisement, and Mentoringprogram, which supports students who are underrepresented in their field of study.

Let's learn more about this year's talented class of interns!

Apoorva Ajith

Apoorva graduated this spring from the University of Maryland, College Park, with dual degrees in community health and environmental science and policy with a focus on environmental anthropology. She is focusing on environmental literacy this summer, working with our Chesapeake Bay education team.

Apoorva heard about the opportunity from her academic advisor, who sent an email with information about environmental internships and job postings.

"I am excited to learn how organizations work together to coordinate local action on broad regional goals like the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement," Apoorva said. "It has been really interesting to understand how change is made from regional and local action, and how the two meet in the middle. I also hope to learn from a variety of mentors, peers, and partners about different environmental perspectives and careers."

The crossover between her two degrees makes a lot of sense. She plans to pursue an environmental career after learning more about how the environment impacts public health.

"I feel inspired by the many different ways in which people connect with their environment and how that connection can improve health and build community," she notes.

Spending time in a healthy habitat always reveals new things. Apoorva recently learned about vernal pools.

"I find them so unique for their ephemeral quality, the species they support, and how this poses a challenge to their conservation. As a 'backyard habitat,' I also love that they can be an easy way for the public to learn about the world around them," she said.

Sophia Bryan

Sophia will be a senior at Boston University this fall. This summer, she is getting an in-depth look at the Chesapeake Bay by serving as our field technician intern.

At school, she is studying marine science with minors in environmental analysis and policy as well as remote sensing and GIS. This internship is a great way for her to put her classroom learning into tangible practice.

Sophia learned about internships at the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office in two ways: She had a TA who had worked for NOAA for a couple years and told the class about student opportunities. Her mom sent her the same listing, too!

She sees this summer as a great opportunity to learn more about how she would like to spend her future.

"Through this internship, I would like to further develop my field work skills and get a sense of what it is like to work for a government agency. Overall, I think this a great opportunity to learn more about myself and what I want to do after college as well as meet new people and hear about their career paths," Sophia said.

This internship is a natural next step for Sophia, who has been curious about nature and ecology since she was young.

"My interest in marine ecosystems was solidified after living in Hawaii for 3 years. As I got older, I became conscious of how large an issue climate change is, and I want to be a part of research and solutions aimed to mitigate its impact on both humans and nature," she said. "I want to be able to protect the same environments that made me curious as a kid for future generations and for the overall stability of our planet."

In the Chesapeake, she's eager to learn more about oyster reefs: "Oyster reefs are probably the habitat that intrigues me the most. They provide so many ecosystem services like cleaning and filtering the Bay's water as well as providing a habitat for other organisms."

Bryn Kearney

This fall, Bryn will be a fourth-year student at Oberlin College, where she is a double major in environmental studies and economics. She's spending this summer focusing on climate change curricula.

"I found this opportunity by searching online for environmental jobs in the Annapolis area. I really wanted to find a position focused on environmental literacy and education, and when I found this position, I was very excited to apply," Bryn said.

Bryn has big goals for the summer, including "to develop a more comprehensive skill set surrounding environmental education. I want to understand the constraints and frameworks already in place in different states and school systems that affect this and learn the best tools for promoting climate citizenship."

Bryn is from the Annapolis area, where the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office has its main office. Our team has long supported education initiatives and programs in the area.

"Growing up in the Annapolis area, I got to engage in many meaningful environmental education experiences that compelled me to figure out how I could take action to make sure communities like mine can be resilient and healthy in the face of climate change," she said.

"I know that I have always enjoyed working with kids and problem solving, which led me to my position at Environmental Dashboard in Oberlin, for which I do research on environmental communication and work with Oberlin Public Schools on resource conservation and data interpretation curricula. I love the work, and I felt eager to get behind the scenes and explore more methodologies behind education and developmentally appropriate learning."

Bryn enjoys immersing herself in healthy habitats: "I love kayaking, especially near marshes and islands in the Severn River. There is so much activity happening in these ecosystems, and I like listening to all the birds."

Julia Staranowski

Julia is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she is majoring in environmental science and policy with a concentration in land use. She enjoys gaining technical skills like remote sensing and GIS.

Julia heard about the internship opportunities through the Chesapeake Bay Program's Bay Brief e-newsletter, a weekly list of job/internship openings, funding opportunities, and professional events. She had heard about the newsletter at a career panel.

Julia, who is focusing on partnerships and engagement work this summer, aims to learn about careers in general-but also how work in the Chesapeake Bay happens.

"During my internship, I most want to learn about the career options in the environmental field and jobs in the government. I'm also excited to learn more about the partnerships and network of agencies throughout the Chesapeake Bay," she noted.

Julia has a long history of time in nature, and it is a motivating factor for her.

"I was inspired to dive into studying environmental science because I grew up spending a lot of time outside with my family. When I started learning about topics like climate change in school, I knew I wanted to go on a path to help the Earth," Julia explained.

In the Chesapeake Bay, she is intrigued by wetlands because they support an abundance of animals.

Oliver Sojka

This fall, Oliver will be a senior at New York University, where he is majoring in the environmental studies program.

Oliver, who is our field ecology intern this summer, found out about NOAA internship opportunities online.

"I started searching after speaking with my professors, advisor, and peers about career pathways and opportunities to get practical experience in my area of study," he shared.

Oliver plans to benefit from two major benefits of internships: learning about work experience in general, and focusing in on his topic at hand: "I'm hoping to get as much as possible from this internship: I want field and lab experience, but also just to see how day-to-day life is for professionals working in areas that I'm interested in. That being said, I do really like field work, so if I had to put any one aspect of the work above anything else it would be that."

While Oliver has always been interested in marine life and ecosystems, his educational experiences have pushed him to be even more focused in these areas.

"My undergraduate experience and everyone in my department motivated me on another level, though. I think my professors, classmates, and volunteer experiences are what drove me to want to take risks and really dive into environmental science," he described.

Oliver will have lots of time to dive into the Chesapeake Bay this summer as he works with our scientists to explore the ecosystem, including on and around the Poplar Island restoration project. That's a great fit, as Oliver is intrigued by marshes.

"I love salt marshes-that's one aspect about the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem that I find super interesting!"

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