By Lindsey Crego

When I applied for the Outreach Intern position at PCS in June of this year, I did not think much of it. I figured that someone more qualified or more experienced would obtain the position. Then I received a call from Ava warning me about the work load and making sure I was prepared to take on the dynamic responsibilities. The job description was very clear and upfront but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Later I discovered that applying for the Outreach Intern position at PCS was one of the best decisions I made in my young life.

With Ava’s brilliant leadership skills, I quickly learned the ins and outs of PCS, how you should never joke around with Paige (she’s all about business), and how important it is to reach out to the public about our vital rivers and streams. The activities Ava had me doing were quite random; one minute I would be mapping our local watersheds on Google Earth and the next minute I found myself picking up 800 apples from the Westgate Farmer’s market for Clean Your Streams Day. My favorite PCS adventure is Get the Lead Out because when participating and teaching people about clean rivers, I feel much closer and connected to the community and to the environment. It is such a good feeling to look out at the river after Get the Lead Out and see how much cleaner it is.

Working at PCS was an incredibly rewarding experience for a copious amount of reasons. I learned how to effectively fundraise for a massive event and interact with businesses to obtain partnerships. Not only did I learn all about our local watersheds and water issues, I also learned how to apply my knowledge to fix the situation. This experience transformed me from a college student who enjoys the outdoors into a professional environmental advocate. Thank you, PCS, for this astonishing experience.