The Terrapin Journal
Summer 2007

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Emily Jack-Scott

Emily Jack-Scott
A True Life Lesson

By Emily Jack-Scott

Interning at the Wetlands Institute turned out to be one of my best life lessons to date. Going into my summer of coastal habitat research, I expected to learn a great deal about ecology and conservation in New Jersey. In reality what I learned encompassed so much more.

Having completed my internship, now working instead as a full-time fourth-year student in college, I find myself longing for the days outside, working in a job so wonderfully meaningful and fulfilling. Rushing from meeting to meeting, engaging in the whirlwind of higher education proves to be far less exhilarating than it once did. Instead I tend to daydream of my days splashing through mud, with my life's schedule dictated by the tides.

The work that I helped with at the Wetlands Institute connected me to my natural surroundings in an eye-opening way. The Wetlands Institute is an extremely well-run facility, and it was amazingly refreshing to work under the guidance of highly focused, experienced, and yet fun-loving scientists. Such a well-organized experience of field research is one I will not forget, as it has raised my standards for a future career by several tiers.

If it were not for the Wetlands Institute, I also would have never known that working outdoors was a calling of mine. I am the product of a generation that is increasingly detached from the natural order of things. The lifestyle of students requires an abnormal amount of time spent in front of a computer screen, or else inside overly heated lecture halls while autumn leaves or snowflakes fall outside unseen. My internship experience was paramount in reorienting my connection with nature.

Most college seniors slip into a typical panic about the next step in their lives in which they will be for the first time without a buffer with the “real world.” Conversely, I find myself completely excited! I am no farther along in finding a job than they are, but I am significantly more resolute in my intended career path. I have expectations. I have direction. Such commodities at this phase of life are priceless.

So while I did in fact, gain a great deal of knowledge about ecosystems along the coast during my summer research internship, I also walked away with a greater understanding of myself and my pursuits. A true life lesson indeed.


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