Meet our 2023 WELCOME Interns!

As the new semester is under way, our new WELCOME interns have hit the ground running! Thanks to our National Science Foundation-funded WELCOME grant (WI Educational Leadership for Community Outreach and Mentoring for the Environment), this is our second year of working with high school interns at Welty. These students will develop projects using some GLOBE protocols (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) and work with students during field trip season. Learn more about our WELCOME interns below, and say hi to them if you see them around!

WELCOME interns, Oliver Devlin (left) and Mariela Sandoval (right), learn maple sugar field trip curriculum in the Big Hill sugarbush.

Mariela Sandoval: I am a senior at Beloit Memorial High School. Some colleges I am interested in are UW-Parkside, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Whitewater. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family and creating new memories. I like gardening, sewing, making jewelry, and just being outdoors.

What I am most looking forward to during this internship is getting experience and to have more scientific knowledge about the environment and to have more hands-on experience.

A funny animal encounter I had was one time when I was about 5 years old. I was outside with my mom while she was cleaning up the yard and I was helping out a little. She went to lift up this log and a little chipmunk came out from under it and ran over my foot. It went by so fast and it scared the 5-year-old me so bad. We still like to laugh about it sometimes.

Oliver Devlin: I am in 12th grade at Beloit Memorial High School. My college plans involve starting at Blackhawk Technical College, then transferring to a four-year college to finish my K-12 Education degree. My hope is to teach natural history or environmental science.

In my free time, I like to draw bugs and things that are surrealistic. I downhill longboard and enjoy old books by analyzing how the English language has changed over the years. I help with theater by doing set construction when possible. I also enjoy spending my time playing Animal Crossing.

I am most looking forward to gaining as much experience and knowledge as I can, as well as working on the GLOBE research project by creating a research question.

A funny animal experience for me is when I was a summer educator for Welty. It was during the training week, and during the tour in the northeast prairie, Aaron and I were walking in front of the other educators. I was about to take a step, then I heard “I think there is a baby mouse under your foot.” I had instantly stopped walking, and as soon as I did, a big turkey came out of the tall grass and was very angry, trying to protect its baby that we thought was a mouse!