Reflection

As I was searching for ways that I can stand out from my peers, in my particular area of study, I thought that completing an internship would be the best. I knew an internship would give me field experience while applying the things I have learned in the classroom.

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First I had to apply to several different internships that interested me. I heard back from some that seemed good but would take me away from my family for extended periods of time. When I heard about the Sage-grouse internship and having the opportunity to create my own schedule I knew it was the one. I went out in the field with my boss and she taught me the basics and showed me each area I would be visiting. After that I was on my own to collect data from each of the 4 nest sites each week, and complete other various tests. I got the GPS point for the bird and collected data from either the nest or where she was with her brood and sent the data to my boss. My project was completed when the hens’ chicks were old enough to be on their own. This data will then be analyzed and sent to several government agencies to make decisions on the land management.

My goal was to gain more field experience and be independent in the work I did. I definitely achieved this goal and it will help me get a good job when I graduate. At times, my boss was out of the country for a week or two at a time and I was completely on my own. If I ran into problems I had to do some major brainstorming and fix those problems myself.

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One of the outcomes was that all of the data was collected for the brood season and this was achieved. The next outcome, which doesn’t directly involve me, is that the data will need to be analyzed and published. My boss will do all of this, but I will be included in parts of the process and it will be neat to see all the work I did come to fruition.

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I used and gained many valuable skills doing this project. On a daily basis I used the GPS/GIS skills I learned in the classroom, as well as data collection. Some of the techniques used to collect data were new to me such as Robel pole and using a satellite receiver to find birds when in close proximity. Skills I learned that I may not have learned elsewhere, were problem solving when things didn’t go as planned. This happened often since I was in nature every day working with wild animals.

I teach elementary school music for my job now, and we use the 7 habits of leadership at the school so I will briefly touch on some of those and how I used them.  Being “proactive” I had to plan my schedule according to the weather in each site I visited, and bring every needful thing so I was prepared for anything that could happen to me. I would often “begin with the end in mind” when I planned my week I set goals of what needed to be done in each area and made sure that during the day I completed each of these tasks so I could stay on top of things. I “sharpened the saw” by not just doing the bare minimum for the project. When I had questions arise I would seek new information and always try and learn new things, even if it meant doing more work. I new that the only person I would be cheating if I didn’t try to get the most from the experience, was me.