Hurricane Sandy Youth Story Corps: Brittany Bowker

Brittany Bowker hadn’t written much about the environment, until a tip from a professor led her to a job with the Service doing just that.

Bowker spent the fall and winter as a Student Conservation Association (SCA) Hurricane Sandy youth story corps intern, working as a communications specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

She wasn’t fetching coffee in her internship. While the past winter relegated much of her duties to the Pioneer Valley, Brittany made it out to Concord, New Hampshire to interview Eric Derleth, supervisor and coordinator of the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program at the Service’s New England Field Office about his current projects in Massachusetts, including tidal marsh habitat restoration and the West Brittania dam removal funded by Hurricane Sandy recovery.

Her other duties consisted of doing public outreach work, including conducting interviews, penning stories and taking pictures. You may have seen some of her stellar work on this blog.

A journalism and public health student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Brittany now knows that after she graduates, she wants to work in a field that helps people.

“I know that whatever I end up doing, it will benefit others in some way. My time with the Service solidified that because directly or indirectly, this work makes a difference, and I believe that’s what matters most,” Bowker says.

Her own work made a difference as well, like her story about U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist Martha Naley’s habitat restoration work or her article announcing bat week. Also, check out her story from this very same series on SCA Youth Story Corps interns!

Brittany says that while the language of conservation took practice before she got the hang of it, she found the work ultimately rewarding.

“Conservation is also something that indirectly benefits everyone,” says Brittany. “Everyone is working towards a bigger, long-term goal, and that’s an important thing to be a part of.”

Check out all of the blog posts by Brittany during her winter internship with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: https://usfwsnortheast.wordpress.com/author/bbowker2014.

SCA intern Brittany Bowker is a part of the Service’s Hurricane Sandy youth story corps, which provides communications experience to college interns as a part of our agency’s commitment to engaging youth in conservation. Tom Barnes is also an SCA intern and recent college graduate.