News

00:00:00 Michelle
First question is if you could tell me a little bit about yourself and why or what drew you to apply for the natural resources internship in the first place.

00:00:09 Rachel
I am a graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona.

00:00:12 Rachel
This is actually my last semester, so I’ll be graduating the spring.

00:00:15 Rachel
My research project involves like looking at an invasive seaweed down in Dana Point Harbor.

00:00:20 Rachel
So it’s like called wakame.

00:00:22 Rachel
So it’s the seaweed that’s found in like, you know, miso soup and like seaweed salad.

00:00:28 Rachel
So it’s like native range.

00:00:29 Rachel
It’s used for like, consumption, you know, very like commercially important species like seaweed.

00:00:35 Rachel
But everywhere else it’s highly invasive.

00:00:37 Rachel
So in Dana Point, it was first observed in 2023.

00:00:41 Rachel
So I was interested in looking at like, its population ecology because it was like such a recent invasion in Dana Point at the time.

00:00:49 Rachel
It was summer of 2024.

00:00:51 Rachel
So I was like a year into my graduate program at the time.

00:00:55 Rachel
I didn’t have my thesis project.

00:00:57 Rachel
Project.

00:00:57 Rachel
Like, I didn’t really come up with the idea yet for this project.

00:01:00 Rachel
So I was sent over this opportunity from my PI, my advisor.

00:01:05 Rachel
And there was like two natural resource resources internships at the time.

00:01:09 Rachel
So one that was more plant restoration based and then the other one was more like marine related.

00:01:14 Rachel
And it was working on like a giant owl limpet that I guess our lab does a lot of like marine monitoring.

00:01:22 Rachel
And so that’s specific species of limpet is something I’m very familiar with.

00:01:27 Rachel
And so I was like, oh, this is like highly relevant.

00:01:29 Rachel
And you know, maybe this could kind of give me an opportunity to explore like a potential research question kind of surrounding like the owl limpet.

00:01:38 Rachel
I thought working with data analysis was like something that I wanted more experience in.

00:01:43 Rachel
And the position was like a graduate intern leading two undergrads in sort of a data analysis program project.

00:01:50 Rachel
And so I think that was something that interested me in wanting more experience and A, like leading some sort of project and then B, being better at data analysis.

00:02:00 Rachel
So that’s kind of what drew me into wanting to apply.

00:02:03 Michelle
Awesome.

00:02:03 Michelle
Thank you.

00:02:03 Michelle
And congratulations on graduating soon.

00:02:07 Michelle
Thank you.

00:02:08 Rachel
Yes.

00:02:09 Rachel
Yeah, I’m in the thesis writing part right now and it’s just so much.

00:02:14 Rachel
But thank you so much, Michelle.

00:02:16 Rachel
Yeah, that’s very sweet of you.

00:02:18 Rachel
Of course.

00:02:18 Michelle
And you got this, um, you touched on it a little bit already.

00:02:21 Michelle
But if you don’t mind going in more detail before starting the program.

00:02:26 Michelle
How did you see your career path and how has that changed since completing the internship?

00:02:31 Rachel
I think kind of before the internship, I really wasn’t sure what career paths were out there.

00:02:38 Rachel
I was pretty open, kind of just like fresh a year into my graduate program, I really didn’t have like a set research interests.

00:02:47 Rachel
Like, I just knew generally, like I was interested in marine biology.

00:02:50 Rachel
And so any application of marine biology for a career, like, I would be happy with like whatever capacity that is, you know.

00:02:57 Rachel
But I think after the internship at Crystal Cove, I think it kind of helped narrow down some potential options.

00:03:04 Rachel
Like, I think I’m still very open.

00:03:06 Rachel
I think anyone is in this economy, like with job wise, but I think being able to work with, with different stakeholders, state parks, you know, with Crystal Cove as like a non profit, like, I kind of saw that as like a potential route for career too.

00:03:22 Rachel
Like not just strictly like, okay, marine bio equal equals research, but it could also be applied to government agencies, nonprofits, and trying to answer like a conservation question, but with different stakeholders.

00:03:36 Rachel
So I think that kind of opened my eyes to like a wider application of my, my degree.

00:03:43 Michelle
So I’m glad that it’s still open for you.

00:03:46 Michelle
But also somehow it narrowed it down and made your options a little bit more refined and what you could do.

00:03:52 Michelle
So that’s really nice to know.

00:03:54 Michelle
Next question.

00:03:55 Michelle
Specifically about the professional development workshops, like the resume building, interviewing and presenting.

00:04:01 Michelle
How did those impact your preparedness for your future career, you feel?

00:04:06 Rachel
Yeah, I think for the grad students, we actually had to lead a workshop.

00:04:11 Rachel
And so I’m trying to remember what topic I did.

00:04:13 Rachel
I think I did like resume and like cover letter.

00:04:17 Rachel
Like I kind of knew like, generally like what that entailed.

00:04:21 Rachel
But because I had to lead a workshop for like all the other interns, I had to do like a little bit more like deep dive into like sort of the specific details, you know, make the tips more even more refined, I guess, because I’m like showing someone.

00:04:34 Rachel
And so I think that kind of helped me, like, okay, I can actually use this for my own stuff too, in that case.

00:04:39 Rachel
That was really nice to be able to kind of show someone because that helped me make my resume better, even though I kind of already knew how to make one.

00:04:45 Rachel
But I think our other graduate intern, Cindy, her workshop was about the graduate school process and that account.

00:04:52 Rachel
She was pursuing a PhD at the time I was doing a master’s.

00:04:56 Rachel
So I think she kind of gave that perspective on like the PhD side of things.

00:05:00 Rachel
And like interviewing, I think that was her topic was like interviewing.

00:05:05 Rachel
So I think I learned a lot from her because she has a very diversified experience.

00:05:09 Rachel
I Think even though I don’t really have interests to pursue a PhD, I feel like those were transferable skills.

00:05:16 Rachel
I can use, you know, other opportunities that I do for like interviewing.

00:05:19 Rachel
And I know Jen also led a lot of those workshops as well.

00:05:22 Rachel
So I think it really helped me because it felt like I was hearing from like the other side.

00:05:28 Rachel
Right.

00:05:28 Rachel
Jen, her respective position is a hiring manager for her own positions, like her own internship.

00:05:33 Rachel
And so I think it was really beneficial for me to hear like what kind of stuff they’re looking for in a potential applicant for any job.

00:05:41 Rachel
Right.

00:05:41 Rachel
I think she also brought in career panelists too, if I remember correctly.

00:05:46 Rachel
And that was also helpful for me and also the other interns, again, see like the range in which the types of positions out there for certain things that we can sort of look into and expect explore as a potential career option.

00:05:59 Rachel
Overall, it was a very long winded answer.

00:06:02 Rachel
But what I’m trying to say is being able to hear from people like already in the system.

00:06:06 Rachel
Right.

00:06:07 Rachel
Like in the workforce doing what they do is like a good example for us to see.

00:06:12 Rachel
Okay.

00:06:12 Rachel
Like if I kind of want to get where so and so is, what are the steps I could take to get there.

00:06:17 Rachel
But at the same time knowing that we all bring diverse skills too and how can we transfer those skills into those positions too, I think that was super beneficial for us.

00:06:29 Rachel
Yeah.

00:06:29 Michelle
Seems like it brought a lot of value in multiple different aspects.

00:06:33 Michelle
Even just the peer to peer type of experiences.

00:06:38 Michelle
I’ve heard where you have to teach sometimes when you’re teaching other people, you learn yourself from that process.

00:06:43 Rachel
Yeah.

00:06:44 Michelle
And then next question is, did this internship open doors or opportunities that you may not have had access to otherwise?

00:06:52 Rachel
Yeah.

00:06:53 Rachel
I did want to add one thing.

00:06:54 Rachel
I didn’t really talk much about the actual project that we did.

00:06:58 Rachel
So they wanted like a group of us to basically do something with the data that they’ve collected.

00:07:04 Rachel
So I mentioned this giant owl limpet.

00:07:07 Rachel
It’s ecologically important.

00:07:08 Rachel
They get really big.

00:07:09 Rachel
So they’re hermaphroditic.

00:07:11 Rachel
So I think they start off male and then they transform into females at a certain size.

00:07:16 Rachel
So obviously because of that, they’re very desirable for harvesting.

00:07:20 Rachel
So people love to collect them for eating.

00:07:23 Rachel
And so because of that, you know, obviously if you want to collect them for food, you want to collect the biggest ones.

00:07:29 Rachel
So a lot of times they’ll collect the largest ones.

00:07:31 Rachel
And that as a result they’re collecting a lot of the females.

00:07:34 Rachel
Because of that, you’re getting this shift in population structure because all of a sudden, the females are gone, and there’s, like, a bunch of small males.

00:07:40 Rachel
So it does affect kind of, like, the way that the population of this limbit functions.

00:07:45 Rachel
Right?

00:07:45 Rachel
That’s why people are interested in studying this particular species.

00:07:48 Rachel
So I guess a couple years before my internship, I think there was, like, a lot of different people from different agencies in, like, OC that collaborated into this sort of community science program where they wanted to train volunteers that are community scientists, like, don’t have scientific background, but want to collect data and kind of be immersed in, like, the scientific process.

00:08:09 Rachel
And so that was sort of the idea of how this unofficial program was built.

00:08:13 Rachel
But I think years later, they had all this, like, data that they collected, and it was just kind of sitting there and not really being used or being analyzed.

00:08:21 Rachel
And, you know, I think that was the motivation for Crystal Cove and Date Parks to be like, okay, well, we don’t have time to sort through and actually reach out to all these people to first hunt down the data sheets, right?

00:08:35 Rachel
And second of all, we don’t have time to actually sit down and analyze the data.

00:08:39 Rachel
So I think they were like, okay, this is a good opportunity for a group of interns to get experience, but just, like, the general process of finding data and then organizing the data and then analyzing the data and presenting the data.

00:08:52 Rachel
So it was this whole thing.

00:08:54 Rachel
So the first couple of weeks we really just spent emailing a bunch of people like, that we knew or that they told us that, hey, they probably have some data sheets.

00:09:03 Rachel
I think because of that, I was emailing all these people to kind of be like, hi.

00:09:07 Rachel
Like, this is kind of what we’re doing.

00:09:09 Rachel
And then actually, like, meet up and coordinate, like, grabbing those data sheets.

00:09:13 Rachel
And I think we had to even go into, like, offices in Irvine and, like, get the data sheets in the cabinet or whatever.

00:09:19 Rachel
And then it was a whole nother thing of, like, it’s handwritten data sheets, right?

00:09:22 Rachel
So it’s like, did they write a zero or is this a six or, like, all that stuff that people often overlook that side of, like, research is the messiness, the ambiguity.

00:09:33 Rachel
These are humans, right?

00:09:35 Rachel
We write sloppily in the field, but then now we have to look at the data and make sense of it.

00:09:41 Rachel
That really taught me a lot.

00:09:42 Rachel
Like, wow, okay, like, I’m the lead here, and these two interns are looking for me to say, okay, what do we do now?

00:09:48 Rachel
Like, I need to make those critical decisions, right?

00:09:50 Rachel
That makes sense for the project.

00:09:51 Rachel
And so I really value that side of things.

00:09:54 Rachel
Like being a leader, but also getting an opportunity to meet all those different people that I had to reach out to.

00:10:00 Rachel
And so I didn’t realize that there’s this.

00:10:02 Rachel
I. I wouldn’t say unofficial, but they’re like a group called Orange County Marine Protected Area Council.

00:10:09 Rachel
So OC Impact.

00:10:10 Rachel
And it’s just a group of people from anywhere from, like, professors working in the Orange County Marine protected areas to, like, government agencies, nonprofits.

00:10:21 Rachel
Even if you’re a regular, like, citizen that lives in O.C.

00:10:24 Rachel
And cares about marine protected areas, like, you can be a part of this group.

00:10:28 Rachel
And they kind of meet every quarter of the year to discuss things that are happening in marine protected areas.

00:10:35 Rachel
And so we actually got invited to their summer in person quarterly meeting and present our data from this project at that meeting.

00:10:44 Rachel
And so many of those people were the people that I reached out to, was there attending the meeting.

00:10:50 Rachel
So I think that also opens another door of opportunities and networking.

00:10:54 Rachel
You know, especially networking, because, you know, we are kind of representing Crystal Co Conservancy and OC Part or state parks, but also, like, I also represent my school, Cal Poly Pomona, and that in a way, like, let people know of me.

00:11:10 Rachel
And so I’ve been active with OC Impact even after that, after the internship, because my professor is also very involved in that group.

00:11:19 Rachel
And so now I’m presenting my stuff, like my own research with Andaria, the invasive stuff, seaweed, at these meetings too.

00:11:27 Rachel
So it goes kind of like a full circle moment, you know, granted, I didn’t end up doing research on the owl limpet, the one that I originally did for my project with Crystal Cove, but, like, just everything kind of was, like, went full circle because I’m, like, still involved with the agency or the group, OC Impact, but now it’s just for my own stuff.

00:11:46 Rachel
It was, like, weird how it all happened very smoothly.

00:11:49 Rachel
I’m very thankful.

00:11:51 Rachel
But yeah, just thinking back, now that I’m talking about it is like, wow, like, I really did that, you know, like, and it was just so, like.

00:11:56 Rachel
I don’t know if she fully intended for all this to happen, but it just naturally did.

00:12:00 Rachel
The nature of, like, having to interact with so many people for this project that involved so many people, you know, I’m just super blessed that everything.

00:12:09 Rachel
That everything good came out of that internship, I think, in the way that it should.

00:12:13 Michelle
Yeah, that is so genuinely impressive.

00:12:16 Michelle
And I’m very happy that that internship opened so many doors and possibilities for you.

00:12:22 Michelle
I’m really happy to hear that it’s a full Circle experience for you as well.

00:12:26 Michelle
That’s really good news to hear on our end and we hope to continue doing that for future interns.

00:12:32 Michelle
I feel like you will really like this next question based off of how you’ve been answering them lately.

00:12:38 Michelle
Do you feel like your program experience and the work that you’ve done were meaningful?

00:12:42 Michelle
And if you did find them meaningful, could you explain why and how?

00:12:46 Rachel
Yeah, like, like you were saying.

00:12:48 Rachel
Like, I already hinted it before, but, you know, my experience with this program was actually my first, now that I think about my first, I guess, internship, job experience, whatever you want to call it.

00:12:58 Rachel
So it was like my first step into, like, flooring other, like, extracurricular activities since starting grad school at the time.

00:13:06 Rachel
So I think I was super fortunate to have been placed in this internship because of, like, the unique nature of this internship and how much it.

00:13:15 Rachel
It allowed me to kind of forge my own path throughout the internship.

00:13:19 Rachel
Like, I think obviously it was communicated to us.

00:13:21 Rachel
There’s a goal, right, that we want you all to achieve by the end of said internship.

00:13:26 Rachel
But I think so much came out of that.

00:13:28 Rachel
And I think what was the meaningful part was mostly it was the people.

00:13:32 Rachel
Crystal Co Conservancy, State Parks team members have been like, so good to us.

00:13:37 Rachel
Intern Truly and Lana and Jen were like our two main, like, supervisors.

00:13:43 Rachel
So I think that they had a lot of trust in us.

00:13:47 Rachel
They gave us the guidance that we needed and we had questions.

00:13:50 Rachel
They were there for us, but I think they really let us take charge of our own project.

00:13:55 Rachel
And like I said, I was saying with those critical decision making moments, I think they trusted that I knew, okay, like you worked with the species before.

00:14:04 Rachel
Like, they trusted that I can do that and lead the interns.

00:14:07 Rachel
And so the two undergrad interns, I also want to give a shout out to them as well.

00:14:11 Rachel
It was Alyssa and Therese was their names.

00:14:14 Rachel
They were both seniors at their respective universities.

00:14:18 Rachel
And so I think it was also really a rewarding experience to kind of give advice as the senior intern because they were also considering grad school as well.

00:14:28 Rachel
So I think that was something that I can kind of give my two cents on.

00:14:33 Rachel
They were like, oh, like, I really want to pursue something similar to what you’re doing.

00:14:37 Rachel
What you’re doing is so cool.

00:14:38 Rachel
And so I think hearing that is very touching to me because I’m like, it’s cool to see that, like, what you’re doing, I guess could be helpful for someone else to like, forge their own path.

00:14:48 Rachel
What, in terms of what I did for the project, I felt like it was meaningful because I think it would have been such a waste if all that data was just sitting there and the story wasn’t being told.

00:14:58 Rachel
But I still think it was, like, cool to at least, like, for the volunteers that collected said data, that it wasn’t just for nothing.

00:15:06 Rachel
Should this sort of program continue, like, data collection?

00:15:10 Rachel
We created like, a form, like a Google form, where people can actually input their data on this form and then upload their data sheet so we wouldn’t have confusion, like, what did you write?

00:15:22 Rachel
How many limpets did you see?

00:15:23 Rachel
Blah, blah, blah.

00:15:24 Rachel
And then it would go into this, like, folder, like online cloud, and all the data could be stored there.

00:15:30 Rachel
So, like, we won’t have to be hunting down different people.

00:15:32 Rachel
So everything is collected in a standardized way and stored in a one cohesive place that anyone can have or anyone within, like, OC Impact have access to.

00:15:42 Rachel
Right.

00:15:42 Rachel
And so I think that was super meaningful, in my opinion, because we identified, like, you know, the inefficiencies of, like, the data collection process.

00:15:51 Rachel
Right.

00:15:52 Rachel
And we suggested a way where we could make this process more efficient, more speedy, and more, like, consistent and standardized.

00:15:59 Rachel
And then we propose that to the group and they actually let us implement that.

00:16:04 Rachel
So that survey form, Google Folder, lives somewhere.

00:16:09 Rachel
It’s there, you know, and if they choose to do something with it, it’s there.

00:16:13 Rachel
And I think that that is something that I feel like our team is very proud of, that we, we found a solution to a problem that we kind of came across.

00:16:21 Rachel
And even after we leave, if they still have questions on that, we’d be open to, like, answering any questions.

00:16:27 Rachel
I think like, a year later, there was some question about the survey, and I think one of our undergrad interns, which was really savvy with the tech, she was able to help them because she crafted that.

00:16:37 Rachel
That survey.

00:16:38 Rachel
So I think it’s cool to see that the people that want to use it can use it and that we’re still available to answer any questions if they arise.

00:16:46 Michelle
So thank you so much for that answer.

00:16:48 Michelle
Just making time for the last two questions I have here.

00:16:51 Michelle
The first one being, if you’ve already touched on so many ways the program helped you and felt meaningful to you, but if there were areas you wish the program could have better supported you in, please make any suggestions.

00:17:03 Michelle
And then the last one would be, what would you say to someone who is considering applying to the upcoming program this summer?

00:17:10 Rachel
Oh, yes, I actually did see the posting.

00:17:13 Rachel
Ocmpac.

00:17:14 Rachel
I’m on their email list and they were like, oh, well, Jen Mendez, like, again, it’s like, really good way for them to, like, broadcast these different, like, opportunities.

00:17:22 Rachel
So I did actually this morning just see the job post.

00:17:25 Rachel
So I guess I’ll answer that first.

00:17:27 Rachel
The second question I would say for the graduate internship is interns should.

00:17:33 Rachel
Or graduate students should still apply to this internship, even if they don’t necessarily feel like either of the two projects are, like, 100%, like, what they want to eventually pursue in their master’s or PhD, like, thesis research.

00:17:50 Rachel
And the only reason why I say that is because I think that, you know, obviously, ideally it would align.

00:17:55 Rachel
But let’s just say that my two options were something that I wasn’t super comfortable with or I didn’t really have a lot of experience in.

00:18:02 Rachel
I’d still say apply because of the other skills that you’ll gain from this internship.

00:18:08 Rachel
I think sometimes it’s good to step out of your comfort zone and study something that’s not within your line of research or your ecosystem of expertise.

00:18:17 Rachel
You know, like, I’m particularly marine focused, like, more coastal stuff.

00:18:21 Rachel
But I think I would still apply even if it was, like, purely terrestrial, just for the sake of, like, learning something new.

00:18:27 Rachel
And being able to, like, apply those research questions over to my own study system is beneficial too, because I think there’s a lot of things that we can learn from, like, other systems, like, ecologically speaking, like, a lot of these research questions can be transferred over.

00:18:42 Rachel
You’ll just obviously have to, like, tweak it for.

00:18:44 Rachel
For your study site and your study organism.

00:18:47 Rachel
But I think the other plus of being in a graduate, as a graduate intern in this internship is the opportunities to learn, like, how to lead a team.

00:18:55 Rachel
I mentioned this before, but it’s a very unique experience because you are not only working with your small team of undergrads, but you’re also working with other stakeholders that are interested in this project too, or, like, have some sort of input or contributing to this research project.

00:19:12 Rachel
So I think being able to, like, manage working with so many people with those diverse backgrounds is a skill that anyone can benefit from.

00:19:22 Rachel
And lastly, I think, again, just a great team to work with that can’t be guaranteed with any sort of employment.

00:19:28 Rachel
Right.

00:19:29 Rachel
And so I was very fortunate that everyone that was.

00:19:32 Rachel
I was working with or even, like, interacted with, like, in the office or passing by have been very kind and, like, just, like, super supportive.

00:19:40 Rachel
Like, they were like, you know, saying, like, oh, if you did really well, they’ll make you feel appreciate, appreciated, even if you’re just like an intern for the summer as a temporary position.

00:19:48 Rachel
But it really does make you feel like you’re part of the team.

00:19:51 Rachel
And they’re constantly feeding us too, in terms of, like, ways that the program can be improved.

00:19:57 Rachel
I don’t really know how to answer that.

00:19:59 Rachel
Like, I felt like everything was fine.

00:20:02 Rachel
Like, I didn’t see any areas of improvement personally.

00:20:06 Rachel
Maybe like, potentially, like, I know Jen was like, really good with like checking in with us on like a weekly or bi weekly basis, but I know it’s a little bit harder for like the state parks people sometimes to be a little bit more involved in that, but being able to like, have meetings with them more.

00:20:21 Rachel
But I know it’s like hard because they’re juggling like a bunch of stuff.

00:20:24 Rachel
So.

00:20:24 Rachel
Yeah, I think that’s all I have for, like, areas of improvement.

00:20:27 Michelle
Yeah, no worries.

00:20:28 Michelle
We’ll definitely keep that in mind.

00:20:29 Michelle
No promises, of course, but it’s good to know that overall you’ve been very satisfied with the experience.

00:20:36 Michelle
Thank you so much for your time.

00:20:37 Michelle
I hope you have a nice rest of your day.

00:20:39 Rachel
Yeah.

00:20:40 Rachel
Thank you, Michelle.

00:20:40 Rachel
Truly, you’ve been so sweet.

00:20:42 Rachel
Take care.