High School Summer Internships Give Students Freshwater Experience Before College

This story was written by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin.

It’s not often that high school students have the opportunity for paid internships that provide them hands-on career experience before heading to college.

The High School Freshwater Summer Scholars internship program at UW-Green Bay does exactly that. What began as a pilot program with one intern in 2022 grew to 10 interns in summer 2024. The program is one of the K-12 outreach efforts supported by Educators and Students Rise to Freshwater Challenges, which UW-Green Bay developed with funding from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin.

“The scholars program provides students with opportunities to explore water science by participating in UW-Green Bay research projects,” say Emily Tyner, director of Freshwater Strategy at UW-Green Bay. “We had 24 applicants for 10 spots this year. It was our most competitive application pool yet.”

This year’s students came from Green Bay, Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Manitowoc.

High school students must apply and go through an interview process. Accepted students are then matched with a UW-Green Bay mentor who is engaged in freshwater-centered research. Mentors may be faculty/staff, graduate students, or a qualified undergraduate who is supervised by a faculty/staff member. This year, two students were also placed at Atlas Science Center in Appleton. Students commit to working 120 hours over the summer and receive a $1,500 stipend.

In addition to conducting research, interns participate in group field trips and other opportunities to explore water science careers and research. For example, they toured NEW Water’s wastewater treatment facilities where they learned about wastewater treatment, internships and jobs.

Sam Frauenfeld, a UW-Green Bay biology major with an emphasis in ecology and conservation, had a unique role in the program. She took on a brand-new position as the high school scholar program coordinator. She was part of the hiring process and interviewed potential interns. Throughout the summer, she served as the students’ primary point of contact, answering their questions and providing peer support.

Frauenfeld says it can be intimidating for high school students to ask questions of university faculty and staff. Not only could she answer their questions, but she provided feedback to the UW-Green Bay team so they can improve the program.

“I was the students’ first point of contact for anything they needed,” she says. “It’s a whole new ballgame going from high school to college, so I helped bridge that gap.”

Another part of Frauenfeld’s role was to help organize the field trips. One unique experience included a visit to Oneida Reservation to see completed restoration work. Site leaders taught students how to identify plant and bug species. They also used E-bird and Merlin apps to monitor birds, and they engaged in water quality sampling.

On another field trip, high school scholars met with Jesse Weinzinger from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to conduct a mussel monitoring survey in a local stream in Mishicot. They donned waders and used bathyscopes to search the sediment floor of the streams. The experience was particularly exciting because the group found eight mussel species, two of which are rare.

Frauenfeld also works on lake sturgeon research in associate professor Patrick Forsyth’s lab. She helped mentor Tessa Losurdo, a high school summer scholar from Suring High School who was assigned to the project.

Under Frauenfeld’s mentorship, Losurdo learned to assess fish and macroinvertebrate populations in Dutchman and Ashwaubenon Creeks, and to collect and tag northern pike in Green Bay. They also collected lake sturgeon in the Menominee River as part of a large conservation project.

“Over the past summer I have had the chance to tour multiple different facilities and learn more about our water and ecosystems,” Losurdo stated in her poster presentation about her internship. “The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin program grew my love for environmental science and conservation has grown, and I can’t wait for what the future holds.”

Losurdo wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the experience. The internship program received rave reviews from participants. A few comments from the anonymous end-of-summer survey include:

“This is a very unique experience that really can let people see into the life of a college student. I think this is a fantastic experience for people who have an interest in science and biology, and for people considering a career within these fields.”

“I would 100% recommend this experience to anyone. It was such a cool opportunity, and it was so nice being able to work with so many different people and do so many different things all in one summer.”

“I would absolutely recommend this experience to anyone who is interested in anything pertaining to the environment. It’s such a cool way to get out there and do actual research that contributes to something real.”

All participants created a video or poster about their research. They are invited to present their work at the annual Lakeshore Water Summit in Manitowoc on Oct. 9 and UW-Green Bay’s Spring Symposium in March 2025.

Learn more at www.uwgb.edu/freshwater-collaborative.