Green Corps Interns at Holden Arboretum
Y.O.U. partnered with Holden Arboretum to offer this internship opportunity to Aashi Parikh, Serenity Ortiz, and Madison Willoughby. They will receive training within host departments including Horticulture, Education, Community Partnerships and Guest Services, while furthering their comprehension of how trees and gardens mitigate a multitude of Cleveland’s environmental concerns. They will explore solutions through targeted lessons and interactions with practitioners tackling issues such as urbanization, stormwater runoff, food insecurity, green space inequity and even unsustainable clothing production. These experiences will heighten interns’ awareness of why sustainability and green space are essential to urban centers for stabilizing water quality, air quality, and air temperature.
Aashi, Serenity, and Madison had a nourishing internship as Green Corps Interns through the Holden Arboretum. They got to climb trees with ropes, measure water quality in the Doan Brook Watershed (pictured below), and do career exploration through each department affiliated with the Arboretum, from guests services to event planning and marketing. They toured the greenhouse and glasshouse while learning more about specific horticultural care with resident experts. They expanded their knowledge of rare plants and met some of the animals the Arboretum cares for. They got their hands dirty weeding in the gardens and supported the preschool camp by working with the kids.
They have learned so much about living a sustainable life and, most importantly, how to bring the tips and tricks they learned with the Green Corps program back to their communities. Each intern chose a personal project where they took plant samples and studied them through the microscope. Madison sampled roses that were dying to try to figure out what was wrong with them, Serenity studied different types of compost with varying richness provided by worms, and Aashi examined aquatic plants to see what she could learn about them thriving in water. They presented their projects to family, friends and their Green Corps mentors.
During their last week of the program, they had lunch with Jill Koski, CEO & President of Holden Forests & Gardens, and learned first hand about her career path to becoming CEO. As Green Corps Ambassadors, they will continue to learn about local green job opportunities and the importance of living a sustainable life.