Thursday, June 5, 2008

ELC Internships

Making travel decisions can be terrifying, but it can also be very exciting. For example, Caitlin is currently reconsidering her decision to visit the town of Viejo after hearing it described in less than flattering terms. Caitlin is my suitemate, and she also works on the Admission crew with me. As we speak, she is on the computer next to me researching a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica. Caitlin is one of the many fortunate WWC students to receive an environmental internship through the Environmental Leadership Center (ELC). Interestingly, Caitlin is actually doing the exact same internship that her roommate, Heather, did last summer. While Caitlin does not yet know what environmental project she will be undertaking, Heather studied various butterfly species in Costa Rica and which of them would return to a secondary-growth forest.

In another hemisphere, my roommate, Tori, also has an internship through the ELC. She will be working for the City of Asheville, designing marketing initiatives and incentives for city employees to reduce their energy consumption and waste production. Her boss is an Aries, just like her, and I think that they will work fantastically together. Tori is already bubbling with ideas about her internship. “Like, maybe I could write down a description every time I see a ‘green’ commercial on T.V.” Tori is a Creative Writing Major, and she sees this internship as her entry into the ‘green-collar’ workforce. Tori’s dream is to write for an environmental leader, and the City of Asheville is making amazing strides in becoming more sustainable.

Both of these women, I’m sure, will have amazing summers. And me? I’ll be giving your campus tours and answering your questions all summer. But I’ll also be interning with the Asheville Lyric Opera. Not bad, eh?

Rachel