A sure sign of the coming end of summer is the departure back to school of our summer interns. APCC has had a long tradition of summer interns making major contributions to the field work that so dominates our summers. The summer of 2025 was no exception as our interns monitored almost 140 ponds, expanded our wetland monitoring capabilities, supported our landscape initiatives, restored the landscape around the Koppel Center, and engaged the veterinarian community in our efforts to protect pets from cyanobacteria toxicity. But as much as we valued the tangible benefits and achievements of this group, their youthful energy, commitment and optimism were a part of the legacy of this wonderful group of future environmental leaders.
Our 2025 interns, Emma Acri, Caroline Berney, Sullivan Gaffney, Tina Hennig, Sophie Corsaro, Nora Bowie, Alan Ives, and Lydia Rheinhardt, are as strong a group as we have had in my eight years at APCC. This group brought the mix of seriousness of purpose, skill and good humor that you hope to find in any group where collaboration and the ability to retain grace under pressure are important. APCC asks a lot of our interns, and we expect them to represent us well with our membership and the public. I have heard from a lot of people that had the chance to engage with the interns in the field and at our office that they easily met and exceeded our expectations.
One of my favorite features of our intern program is that many of them return to APCC for a second summer or as employees. Those that don’t come back to us often venture into productive environmental careers in other workplaces and apply the lesson learned at APCC to the betterment of the broader environment. It is with mixed emotions then that we say “goodbye and thank you” to this talented group, but any sadness is tempered by the knowledge that we all benefited from our time together.
