Five Darien High School students made waves this spring as interns at SoundWaters, an organization for hands-on climate science and environmental education.
— an announcement from SoundWaters
Cooper Anderson, Julia Den Dooven, Anastasia Grytsenko, Joely Lozada and Jacqueline Thomas spent five weeks immersed in the day-to-day operations at SoundWaters Coastal Education Center at Cove Island Park in Stamford.
Instead of attending traditional classes in the final stretch of their high school careers, they chose to step outside the classroom and straight into Long Island Sound.
Photo by Mike Bagley, SoundWaters
Darien High School senior interns taking a break between teaching classes at SoundWaters at Cove Island Park in Stamford. From left: Anastasia Grytsenko, Cooper Anderson, Julia Den Dooven, Jacqueline Thomas and Joely Lozada. (Darien is on the opposite shore, across Holly Pond.)
These Darien students were among a select group of high school interns from several area high schools, who gained hands-on experience in environmental science.
Working alongside professional SoundWaters educators, SoundWaters interns assisted in science programs for more than 2,000 regional students, ranging from preschoolers to middle schoolers. Their days were spent leading hands-on experiments in the classroom and lab settings and conducting fieldwork aboard boats on Holly Pond.
“Every day at SoundWaters felt like stepping into something bigger than myself,” said Grytsenko, who will be attending Sarah Lawrence College in the Fall. “I wasn’t just learning about the environment, I was guiding younger students to become passionate about protecting it.”
The SoundWaters High School Internship Program is more than just work experience, it’s a launching pad for personal growth. “Our interns are at the heart of our mission,” said SoundWaters Director of Education Christina Genz.
“They lead with curiosity, teach with passion and walk away with real skills and purpose,” Genz said. “At SoundWaters we believe that when students discover the Sound, they embrace the world and this group of interns truly embodied that spirit.”