Externships

Travis has worked with staff to maintain a diverse array of native prairie plants. His responsibilities included transplanting greenhouse-grown seedlings into designated plots on the grounds. He assisted with weeding and ongoing maintenance to support healthy growth. Travis helped collect and store seeds. He also participated in fieldwork, traveling to various prairie sites to collect additional seeds, thereby enhancing the genetic diversity of the Center’s seed bank.

“Each day at the Tallgrass Prairie Center involved hard, physically demanding work, but the team I worked with made the time fly by. I truly enjoyed being around people who are so passionate about their work and committed to making the world a better place.”

Travis Angell, MS math and science teacher at Waverly Shell Rock CSD

During Dawn’s time at Effigy Mounds National Monument, she worked with the Interpretation staff. She led tours on the Yellow River Boardwalk trail, participated in events such as the Migratory Bird Event, and helped in the visitor center and store. One of her main projects was developing a public resource for the Yellow River Water Trail in the Heritage Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument. She researched the flora and fauna of the area and worked on a 4 x 9 infographic that visitors may take with them as they float down the Yellow River.

“My favorite part of my experience was having time to develop a knowledge base of the native culture and history in my area. I can say confidently that I have learned a lot and can share my knowledge with my students and colleagues.  I will also continue to learn all that I can about the resources in my area.”

Dawn Colsch, STEAM teacher at MFL-MarMac CSD

Cain worked at Geater Manufacturing and Machining in the sheet metal, machining, and drill press departments of production. During his time, he learned to manipulate programmed machines that produced parts from aluminum for the aerospace industry. Cain would need to be able to edit programs to produce the parts efficiently so that a high level of quality control was preserved. Communication and collaboration were a vital part of the externship, as he had to effectively communicate with employees from other departments with the same, positive end-goal in mind.

“Geater has made a large investment in education because they know where their development team comes from. It is our job in education to continue to show students these opportunities.”

Cain Cushion, industrial tech teacher at Wapsie Valley CSD

Kaydian worked with Clayton County Development Group to promote vacation rental lodging. She learned how guest spending at rental properties supports local development by contributing tax revenue. She created promotional videos with voiceover narration. She also used AI to analyze guest reviews, photos, and property details, gaining insights into market trends and guest preferences in order to generate content to improve listing descriptions and overall marketing impact. Her efforts directly benefited vacation rental and lodging owners by boosting property visibility, increasing guest engagement, and enhancing revenue potential.

“My favorite part of the externship was learning directly from local businesses and community members about the real challenges they face. Talking with business owners and employees helped me understand important issues like hiring, marketing, and using technology. As a business teacher, this knowledge helps me connect what I teach to real-world situations.”

Kaydien Davis-Goodwin business teacher at Ed-Co CSD

Grady Gallagher is currently completing an externship at Kluesner Sanitation, LLC. Throughout the summer, he will focus on rebuilding the company's website, creating content, developing a branding strategy, and enhancing the online customer experience. This includes taking and updating photos, auditing the workflow, and developing interactive pages that hold necessary information for the current and future updates. In addition to his work on digital improvements, Grady will also contribute to various business operations, including billing, accounting, and payroll support.

“The biggest impact on me has been the connection of what I have been teaching about small business social media and web presence and how I can tweak this to become even more authentic. This will really benefit my students as they create their own businesses, work at small businesses, or start their side hustles.”

Grady Gallagher, business teacher at Beckman Catholic

Bethany is collaborating with the Naturalists at Buchanan County Parks to support a variety of educational and outreach efforts. Her responsibilities include assisting with day camps and programs at local libraries, guiding summer school groups, and welcoming visitors to the nature center at Fontana Park. In addition to her hands-on work with the public, Bethany is actively contributing to the park's communications by taking photos for promotional use and helping update the park's website and other digital tools.

“I think anytime we can engage students, it helps make the learning stick and these lessons are certainly engaging. Plus it connects them with their world which can help give them a sense of well being and purpose increasing their social-emotional well-being. I am so excited to take all of this knowledge back to my school this year.”

Bethany Hadley, instructional coach at Oelwein CSD

Madyson worked with Clayton County Energy District (CCED). She completed projects, ranging from researching energy comparisons and benchmarking energy burden improvement initiatives to website design and energy educational programming efforts. In addition, the help with website design and added graphics will help entice visitors to learn more about energy regulations, effects, and progress for the future. The implementation of new or improved energy educational resources, especially for younger audiences, will help engagement and understanding of energy as a whole.

“I love anything to do with developing websites. I was able to dig into CSS and HTML backside work. It has been great to practice with this, especially because one small change can make a big difference. You are also able to access more features in the backend compared to the frontend.”

Madyson Larson, science teacher at MFL-MarMac CSD

During her externship this summer, Neal will expand upon the programming she created last summer to increase engagement at the Decorah Fish Hatchery. Neal will make a series of outdoor interactive scavenger hunts. Hunts will include information about the Fish Hatchery and the surrounding natural area of the Driftless. Events will be held monthly during the summer, where visitors to the Hatchery can participate in new missions and adventures. Neal created special addition hunts for birthday parties, social events, school groups, daycare centers, and an ongoing Goosechase.

“This has really solidified how important it is for students to have good design skills, for even in STEM fields you are often trying to communicate your work with a public audience.”

Emily Neal, science teacher at Postville CSD

Andrea worked at the Sweet Marsh location with DNR Wildlife Management staff. During the summer Andrea was involved in a variety of projects to prepare water fowl food plots to provide hunting habitat as well as waterfowl refuge areas that allow for research and data collection on duck, goose, and other migratory bird populations. She was also able to participate in song bird tracking, goose and mourning dove banding, and many other daily tasks that help maintain the thousands of acres managed by the DNR staff based at the Sweet Marsh office.

“A lot of conversations about what they are seeing as they study native populations have brought up scenarios I can tie into classroom conversations to help make these topics more relevant to students. Wildebeest migration is an ok storyline, but ducks and geese will grab the attention of the students that would rather be out hunting than sitting in a classroom.”

Andrea Sullivan, science teacher at Nashua Planfield CSD