Emma and Georgia at work at Zylstra Lake Preserve
Against all odds, we forged ahead with our 2020 summer internship program—and we’re so glad we did! Our two chosen candidates, Emma Jacobs and Georgia Drost, spent the first two weeks of their six-week internship quarantining at the Ellis Preserve on Shaw Island. Fortunately, both of them thrived in the preserve’s splendid isolation, seizing the opportunity to begin the first of several projects that made the weeks seem to fly by.
We selected this year’s interns with the idea that they’d expand our capacity for visual storytelling through video. Georgia came to us as a Film and Television major (minoring in Environmental Studies and Photography) at Columbia College Chicago. Emma drove to the San Juans from Colorado, where she’s majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Film Production at CU Boulder. The two had never met before, but proved to have complementary skills and developed a working rapport that was a joy to see in action.
Thanks, Georgia! Thanks, Emma!
Here’s a showcase of the projects they worked on during their time with us:
First, our interns’ “magnum opus.” We asked them to create an “anthem video” that has two main goals:
- Help people who don’t know the Preservation Trust understand what we do and why.
- Deepen ties with existing supporters.
How well does it succeed? Please let us know what you think.
Their first project, while they were in quarantine, was to transform a rotting stump into a pollinator garden—and to document the process with a video:
Collaborating with the County Land Bank, Emma and Georgia shot and edited this guided tour of the new trail at Zylstra Lake Preserve that opened on September 26, 2020:
For fun, Emma helped us make this light-hearted “Happy Fall Equinox” video for our “Just a Minute” series. (Not her fault that it went a bit over a minute!)
Lastly, enjoy an essay written by Emma that reflects on her experience living in this woodpecker’s home at the Ellis Preserve. Click on the photo to read her essay.
