Demmer Scholars: Getting buzzy celebrating pollinators
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Blogger: Kim Winter, NatureWatch program leader, who's supervising Emily Loubert, one of 23 MSU students in the Demmer Scholar Washington, DC, program, a senior-level class in natural resources policy that meets one night a week and all day Saturday while working full-time as paid interns at federal agencies or non-governmental organizations that focus on natural resources.
After a 'buzzy' week celebrating National Pollinator Week, I wanted to highlight the hard work of three of our interns -- Emily, Sergio and David -- and our colleagues in making the week a complete success. To launch the week, Emily and Sergio helped out at the Congressional Briefing on the Hill Monday afternoon,
and even brought back pollinated vanilla and raspberry ice cream/sorbet for the staff.
Friday, I joined David, Sergio, Emily (third from left in the photo at right), and our colleagues Doug Holy (NRCS) and Tom VanArsdall (Pollinator Partnership) at the USDA Farmer's Market for a special tabling event to showcase the work of USDA and the role of pollinators in gardens and agriculture. Thanks to Larry Stritch in Rangeland Managementt and his botanist collaborators, our outreach materials included the very popular pollinator-friendly planting guides (http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm), bee identification guides, monarch and bee bookmarks, the beautiful 2012 pollinator poster and two tables full of other great resources (see Facebook photos of both events: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NatureWatch/308114129244235?ref=tn_tnmn).
The enthusiasm, knowledge, and positive energy of our interns at these events were truly impressive! They jumped into a topic (pollinators) none of them had extensive experience with, picked up the basic information immediately, and spent the rest of the day conveying positive, engaging messages to everyone who passed by. All of this while sweltering in the heat! So hat's off to our interns for doing an exceptional job.
