This summer, the Outdoor Youth Corps (OYC) leadership team welcomed Nora Jennings, a previous OYC participant, as the OYC Intern. Nora was instrumental in aiding the daily operations of the OYC Summer Crew program and enhancing the experiences of the crew members through her leadership. Nora helped build a culture of care and camaraderie for the crew, always striving to make each crew member’s experience the best it could be.
Throughout the summer, Nora learned and acquired skills in time management, leadership, communication, and teamwork. She created a tabling lesson plan on solar energy “Power of the Sun”, and how we can use the sun to utilize that energy. After the Summer Crew participants tested out the lesson plan, it was approved by all and will be used at future tabling events for the public.
Before this internship, she had been active in numerous other OYC programs, including two previous Summer Crews and a few Weekend Work Series programs. Being a part of the OYC programs inspired her to pursue a career related to sustainability and she is a current student at the University of Kansas as a Chemical Engineering major.
She hopes to learn more about how to create renewable energy in the solar sector to help solve real-world problems and be a part of creating solutions to improve our future. During her time as an intern she feels she made and counties to make a big impact on the world around her- and the staff she worked with agree!
Joseph Caya was our fantastic Sustainability Education Intern for Summer 2024! As a sophomore at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, majoring in GIS and Environmental Sustainability, he was very excited about this internship opportunity. Throughout his time at the garden, Joseph jumped into an abundance of projects, like assisting with our teacher professional development workshops, exploring GIS at the Litzinger Road Ecology Center, and teaming up with our Outdoor Youth Crew during their summer workforce development days.
For his final project, he put together an exciting plastic waste audit lesson plan that includes three engaging activities, a teacher guide, and a prior knowledge activity—all ready to use in K-12 classrooms this upcoming school year. We are grateful for Jospeh and the excitement that comes with having a new intern every summer, we look forward to the amazing work that Joseph ends up doing in the future.