08 Jul A Medio Camino

I am at the end of my fifth week at Fire Island National Seashore. School is out and it finally feels like summer. The beaches are becoming packed with visitors of all ages enjoying the sun. I received my Personal Identity Verification Card a couple of weeks ago. The program used for the card activation was having technical difficulties, so it was a few days before I was able to activate it with updated software. Now that it’s activated I finally feel settled in. I have been spending some time getting acquainted with our park’s shared public drive, which is a combination of information and pictures from all of the park staff. We have been working on our Latino Conservation Week events and are developing a social media campaign. Other than that, this week has been a little slow for me. I was fortunate enough to have three days in a row off this week, so I relaxed and enjoyed my 4th of July. I went to the Robert Moses beach and convinced my boyfriend to walk to the Fire Island lighthouse with me. He had never been to Fire Island before, so I was more than eager to be there for his first time. It felt a little odd having so much down time, since this internship keeps me busy. The day after my break I worked on water quality testing with Cornell Cooperative Extension scientists. I really enjoyed the hands-on work. It’s amazing when you can apply the things you used in school out in the real world. On Thursday, we staffed a booth at an event called Alive After Five. It’s a giant street festival with a large variety of food and drink vendors, food trucks, live music, and retail vendors. There are also family friendly activities. People from all over Long Island come out to enjoy this event.

Water Quality-Dissolved Oxygen Test