<p>
	The first two weeks of the winter internship have come and gone.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s Friday, our overnight group departed only several hours ago.&nbsp; Everyone is resting in their homes. Our etch-a-sketch landscape wiped clean by a blanket of fresh snow.&nbsp; You wouldn&rsquo;t guess by the looks of it, but we&rsquo;ve had a busy two weeks.</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Winter 2.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px;" />Starting anything new takes a bit of work and our training week was no exception.&nbsp; In one week we cover the entire curriculum we plan to teach over the course of the internship.&nbsp; It can be exhausting.&nbsp; That being said, I decided to end the week with an adventure.&nbsp; Friday afternoon I took the interns to Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore for some naturalizing and general gallivanting.&nbsp; Not too far off the beaten path we discovered two porcupines slowly browsing high up in adjacent hemlocks.&nbsp; As we worked our way to Empire Bluff, the gray haze that had draped over the landscape since the start of the internship dissipated.&nbsp; There were clear cool skies on the horizon, blue skies overhead, and a soft low light wrapping the lakeshore.&nbsp; It was beautiful and metaphorical and just perfect.</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Winter 5.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px;" />The calm and peace that comes at the end of training week is too quickly spent before it is met again with worry and anxiety about the following week of teaching. With emotions building Monday morning to what I would call&hellip; subtle trepidation, students arrived and from what I could tell, immediately washed away any anxieties the interns had for the coming day.&nbsp; Worry turned to excitement, doubts to joy, as laughter, and strangely audible mouth breathing filled the air (For whatever reason, younger students often forget to breathe through their noses, which cumulatively results in a sound akin to the constant low hiss of a heating register.&nbsp; I think maybe it has something to do with their nostrils being clogged in the winter).</p>
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	With that, the first day of teaching came and went.&nbsp; Now as I write this, the interns have weathered a full week of instruction on their own and I feel fit to introduce the staff to you all.</p>
<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Michelle.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px;" />Having spent last summer at Au Sable doing research on the Boardman River, Michelle LaForge is no stranger to Au Sable&rsquo;s woods.&nbsp; After graduating from Wheaton College under the advisement of our Executive Director Fred Van Dyke, Michelle joins us with a background in Environmental Science.&nbsp; Seeing Michelle again is great, she is a hard worker with an unsuspecting silly personality.&nbsp; Standing at 6&rsquo;2&rdquo; she could easily be an imposing figure to 3<sup>rd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> graders, yet her warm smile and ability to engage the students in fun ways quickly dismisses any doubts about her approachability.</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Phil.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px;" />Philip Turner is joining our staff after graduating from Houghton College in New York with a degree in Biology. &nbsp;&nbsp;Philip is our lone male intern and as far as I can tell he has no problem with that.&nbsp; Phil&rsquo;s experience working with the Massachusetts&rsquo;s Audubon carrying out bird counts and aiding with interpretive programs has suited him well for sharing knowledge about Au Sable&rsquo;s woods with local children.&nbsp; Phil&rsquo;s depth of knowledge and love of birds was apparent the first day as he informed us of the Chickadee&rsquo;s unique ability to increase memory capacity during winter months so as to better recall caching sites.&nbsp; Thanks Phil!</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Alyssa.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 187px;" />Graduating this past December from my alma mater Bethel University is Alyssa Riggs.&nbsp; Alyssa holds a degree in Biology, and if that didn&rsquo;t keep her busy enough she was also a member of Bethel&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s soccer team.&nbsp; Upon preparing for the arrival of students, Alyssa commented that she was worried about her lack of experience working with children outside of the sporting sector.&nbsp; I assured her she would be fine and that the students would love her.&nbsp; Checking in with her halfway through her first day she was all smiles remarking, &ldquo;I am having so much fun!&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t believe I was nervous.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Sunset.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px;" />So there they are.&nbsp; Our wonderful winter interns.&nbsp; Check back over the course of the next month to hear what the interns have to say about their experiences living, learning, and teaching here at Au Sable!</p>
