Star-studded Summer Interns

An entry from our board meeting minutes said it best, “Helen has been methodically working on thankless projects.” Helen Reinold started in the fall as a high school volunteer. As Roger Laegeler, the buckthorn beaver, observed, “She doesn’t let grass grow under her feet.”

Her senior year volunteer effort led Helen to become our Stillman intern. She starts at Augustana College in September. Helen has not been alone at Stillman this summer.

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of Prairie Woods Audubon, we had two additional interns working at Stillman. The Prairie Woods interns earned tuition money correlated to the number of hours they put in with us. One of these interns, Jessica Kopala, is a sophomore at Eastern Michigan University who graduated from Rolling Meadows High School. She put in200+ hours of service. Kim Schmidt, who was here for less time, is finishing up at Eckherd College in Florida.

Intern duties were anything but glamorous. In mid-May, for example, interns joined volunteers to dig woodland plants such as blue cohosh and baneberry from a North Barrington construction site and transplanting them to Stillman. Other thankless projects included hauling gravel, cleaning cages, clearing trails, digging a ditch, organizing garages, and, believe it or not, helping me teach a class or two!

In an attempt to find an analogy to describe these interns, I had to look to the heavens. Kim, who was here mostly in August, a meteorite in the Perseid meteor shower. Jessica becomes Cygnus, a summer constellation, while Helen has been the moon, rotating around Stillman for the year.

When I last talked with Jessica, she wanted me to make sure to thank all the members of Prairie Woods Audubon for making the internship possible. The folks at Stillman are also tipping their hats to Prairie Woods.

On a personal note, few things make me more hopeful about the future then getting to know students like Helen, Kim and Jessica; they brighten the night sky.

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