{"id":3536,"date":"2016-07-29T17:31:54","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T22:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/for-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=3536"},"modified":"2016-08-23T13:46:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T18:46:12","slug":"blugolds-help-city-of-eau-claire-improve-sustainability-life-through-internship-program","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/blugolds-help-city-of-eau-claire-improve-sustainability-life-through-internship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Blugolds help city of Eau Claire improve sustainability, life through internship program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"20160629_Derek_0003\"<\/a>
Derek Dahlk, this summer’s city of Eau Claire community planning department intern, stands in front of Eau Claire City Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UW-Eau Claire environmental studies students are working toward a greener Eau Claire community while simultaneously getting a valuable internship opportunity.<\/p>\n

For the last three years, Ned Noel, associate planner for the city of Eau Claire, has hired environmental studies students through a connection to UW-Eau Claire\u2019s Watershed Institute for Collaborative Environmental Studies.<\/p>\n

Past interns include Michaela Leach, Nathan Schaffer, Helu\u00e9 V\u00e1zquez, Bryan Voeltner and Vladimir Suntsov, each of the students coming from different academic disciplines ranging from geography to economics.<\/p>\n

The students are able to get internship credit through the university, fulfill his or her service-learning, or opt for a paid internship through the Great Lakes Higher Education grant, awarded to UW-Eau Claire in fall 2015.<\/p>\n

The students\u2019 projects vary, Noel said, but generally the students work on anything related to sustainability, as well as other city planning work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very dependent on the current projects, so some of the interns have helped me with the carbon footprint in the past. That\u2019s generally the biggest project,\u201d Noel said. \u201cThe university also does a similar project, and if we can find a student who has worked on the project at the university, then they have the experience to apply to the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer\u2019s intern Derek Dahlk, a liberal studies major studying critical theory and public policy, works on projects dealing with solar policy, public art, water conservation and nutrition planning. He also works in coalition with the city\u2019s Advisory Commission on Sustainability, creating policy briefs, as well as brochures about solar policy and water conservation in order to develop \u201cdiscourses about efficient design and building a more resilient Eau Claire,\u201d Dahlk said.<\/p>\n

Dahlk is also able to participate in community meetings for the Health Impact Assessment for the city\u2019s Cannery District redevelopment.<\/p>\n

The internship allows him a real look into how the inside of a city government operates, rather than simply learning about the theory of the process in a classroom setting, Dahlk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the city allows me to see into the institutional functions besides just writing about them in an abstract manner. It allows me to see the process that public decisions go through and the people who are fighting to improve the lived experience of Eau Claire residents,\u201d Dahlk said. \u201cMy position allows me to see how ordinances are fabricated and be aware of the different levels of organizations active in varying sectors of Eau Claire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vladimir Suntsov, the first city of Eau Claire sustainability intern and a chemistry student, put together the city\u2019s first greenhouse gas report after being in the carbon footprint Honors class at the university. This summer Dahlk is making new strides in carbon footprint research for the greater community.<\/p>\n

\u201cDerek is the first one working on the question of how we can quantify the carbon footprint of the whole city, so we\u2019ve been able to establish enough understanding to figure out our own, and so now we can look at the whole community,\u201d Noel said.<\/p>\n

Because many students interested in environmental studies end up working within municipal governments, this internship experience is invaluable, said Dr. James Boulter, Watershed Institute director.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to meet people in the community, in the city planning office and city government because a lot of people who are interested in sustainability will go into government-type jobs,\u201d Boulter said. \u201cFor a student to work in city government doing the work of city planning and sustainability is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

In general, Boulter said the experience is great in building any student\u2019s resume, as well as a key opportunity to learn in a different way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for their resume, and it\u2019s also a really great learning opportunity. Students really learn a lot through these projects,\u201d Boulter said. \u201cOne of the things about sustainability is that it\u2019s highly interdisciplinary, and it\u2019s just one of those things that you have to really learn hands on because it involves learning from so many classes across disciplines. So that ability to integrate different understandings they\u2019ve learned in different places is valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

And not only is the opportunity significant for the individual student, but it\u2019s also helpful for the community, and even the entire world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very easy for a university to be off in our own corner of the community, but through these relationships over years and years where these interns keep coming back, this means that the university is really serving the community and the state,\u201d Boulter said. \u201cAnd by making Eau Claire more sustainable, we\u2019re actually serving a greater good in terms of climate and all the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe I can help the community by integrating my particular perspective into the discourses developing around the city regarding sustainability, equitable development and healthy living,\u201d Dahlk said. \u201cAll students should work harder to integrate their knowledge and education into their everyday behavioral choices and their interactions. Knowledge shouldn\u2019t be left in the vacuum of the mind. By getting out there and talking about our deepest ideas, we can collectively change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UW-Eau Claire environmental studies students are working toward a greener Eau Claire community while simultaneously getting a valuable internship opportunity. For the last three years, Ned Noel, associate planner for the city of Eau Claire, has hired environmental studies students through a connection to UW-Eau Claire\u2019s Watershed Institute for Collaborative Environmental Studies. Past interns include […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[96],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-3536","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-eau-claire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/3536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=3536"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=3536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}