Each year the Scout Island Nature Centre offers summer positions for university students.
This year’s summer students are Adrien Zimmerman, Madigan Riplinger, and Cleary Manning. The girls have all spent the majority of their lives living in Williams Lake and are passionate about learning about the area and sharing that knowledge with others.
Adrien is a returning member of the Scout Island staff as she has worked there for the last two years. The first year she was a high school student so her position has since changed.
She does a great job of teaching the new staff the ropes and leading by example. In her studies at the University of Northern British Columbia, Adrien studies biochemistry and math.
Madigan studies biology at the University of British Columbia and will be starting her second year of studies this fall. Growing up in Williams Lake, Madi has always been surrounded by the wildlife and outdoors.
She hopes to gain knowledge and experience that will help her further in her field of study.
Throughout the school year Cleary studies music at the University of Victoria. She is specializing in music education and hopes to become a high school music teacher. She is looking forward to working with kids this summer to gain experience for future teaching.
Throughout the summer, the staff develop lessons that specialize in areas such as birds, bugs, amphibians, plants, and more.
They then help lead activities during their time at Scout Island with direction from Martin Kruus and Sue Hemphill.
They are starting the year teaching grade 7 classes about ecosystems in preparation for their upcoming Earth challenge.
Throughout the summer they teach summer programs as well as other class field trips. Aside from class visits, the staff are busy with feeding the nature centre animals, cleaning their tanks, preparing for visitors, and other maintenance around the nature centre.
Canada Summer Jobs Program, SD 27 and donations to Scout Island Nature Centre all contribute to the cost of summer staff salaries.
READ MORE: Scout Island, still a home to nature in Williams Lake, 45 years on
READ MORE: Bugs and birds all part of learning at Scout Island
Do you have a comment about this story? email:
ruth.lloyd@wltribune.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.