Ever since I can remember, I’ve never wanted to do or be one thing. The world has so many opportunities, which gives me a great range of potential. As a kid, I wanted to be a biologist, but I also aspired to be a rockstar, chef, doctor, business owner, fashion designer, and as funny as it sounds, a mailman. Going to high school, I could never choose just one or a few things to be involved in. I enjoyed basketball, softball, cross country, track, choir, piano, NHS, and Rotary Interact, along with serious dedication to my classes. Learning and trying new things is one of my favorite things to do! Over the years I have learned to play the guitar and harmonica, perform magic card tricks, rollerskate, and to kick a hacky sack around. I have had a wide variety of jobs as well, including managing a mini fun park, food services, groundskeeping, tutoring, sales, and now I am here, interning at HFF!
That is something that I have loved about being here Mon-Fri at HFF: Variety. Each day is something different or something new, keeping me on my toes. I could go from sitting at a desk with my laptop one day and then exploring the middle of nowhere the next. Some of the things that I have been able to do here at HFF include participating in informative classes/presentations about hydrology, data analysis, coding, and the studies of other fishery professionals, data entry, collecting sondes from the various locations on the Henry’s Fork, cleaning and calibrating sondes in the lab, traveling to visit previous projects, and participating in 2 river clean ups! That doesn’t include working with the other amazing interns and staff, and meeting many of the wonderful donors and chair board members at the annual Henry’s Fork Days event!
One of the projects that I will be spending more time on this summer is working on an ongoing scanning/cataloging project. If you are wondering what that means, it means that I am hunting down scientific articles and reports that are relevant to HFF’s work, organizing them, and eventually putting it all on the HFF website under the Reports and Publications tab for the public to access. If you look there now, you will see a few recent resources there, but by the end of this project, there will be a plethora of reports, publications, thesis and dissertations dating as far back as the 1980’s. This will be a great resource to those who want to learn more about the foundation’s work, the conditions of the watershed, and the science that goes behind all river systems.
Almost everything I am learning and doing at HFF is new to me, which challenges me. Becoming familiar with terms and procedures along with methods of accomplishing HFF’s mission can be overwhelming. But I like to take it all one step at a time, and remember that I have great mentors by my side. My mentor, Matt Hively, has been a great teacher and guide as I learn all these new things. He even taught me how to row this week!
I am beyond grateful to be in a place that allows me such a wide range of opportunities to learn and grow. I am excited to see what else I can do this summer!
Until next time,
Hailey
Yellow Monkey Flower
Flower covered dam at the fish pond in East Harriman
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