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This summer, I had the privilege of working with the Lake Moraine Association (LMA) in Hamilton, NY, as part of the Upstate Institute's Summer Field School. The LMA is a dedicated nonprofit organization focused on preserving the natural beauty and ecological health of Lake Moraine. My primary project was archiving the LMA’s historical documents, which include meeting minutes, reports, and newsletters. This archival work is essential for preserving the association's history and helps us understand how past efforts can guide future initiatives.

This summer, I worked on the B-Team project at the Friends of Rogers Center, which helps educate the public about native bees and the issues they face, then encourage the public to take action within their communities to create pollinator habitats and partake in other behaviors that benefit native bees. I managed a multi-media outreach and education campaign, hosted educational nature walks and B-team meetings, expanded the B-team webpage, ran a volunteer event for invasive species removal, and worked on implementing new pollinator habitat space.

This summer, I have been privileged to contribute to the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts’s History Project. Sadly, many of ALCA’s records have been lost, and a significant component of my work has included organizing and cataloging the Arts Center’s many records with the enormous help of several volunteers: Marti Evanoff, Boka Baglieri, Lenore Maynard, and Annabelle Anderson. These records, which include historic photographs, posters, pamphlets, and more, help paint part of ALCA’s rich story. I have also helped digitize many of these records with the help of the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, working most closely with their librarian, Jenny Ambrose. 

This summer I had the opportunity to work with Pathfinder Village, a community that provides support for individuals with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities. My project this summer focused on raising awareness and building community bonds for Council Rock,which is a self-advocacy group run by adult men and women who live at Pathfinder. Members of this group meet weekly to discuss equal access, independence, and volunteerism.

This summer, I worked with Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) – an economic development organization that works to build a stable, equitable economy for all residents in the Adirondack North Country region. ANCA works to achieve this goal with four teams: small businesses, clean energy, food systems, and equity and belonging. My work this summer has been with ANCA’s small business team, which exists to keep small businesses open and thriving, because they are an integral part of our rural economy.

The Midtown Utica Community Center (MUCC) is deeply rooted in Utica’s rich history of embracing immigrants and refugees. MUCC creates a multicultural, refugee-friendly environment and offers a diverse range of services such as; academic support through English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) education, citizenship classes, after-school programs, college readiness workshops, arts and cultural activities promoting cross-cultural understanding and connection within the community. This summer, I worked at MUCC and contributed to its mission by working as a grant writer and assisting in teaching an Adult Learning English course (ALE/ESL) at BOCES.

As an Upstate Institute Field School Fellow, this summer I had the opportunity to work with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Central New York Regional Field Crop Specialist. Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE)  provides a variety of important services for local communities including regional agricultural programs, outreach and education, insect pest monitoring, plant variety trials, as well as other agricultural and sustainability-related initiatives.

BRiDGES, or the Madison County Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc. (MCCASA), started in 1985 in Oneida, NY, to tackle the rising issues of alcohol and drug use among adolescents. This summer, my focus at BRiDGES has been on gathering and analyzing data from various sources, like the Madison County TAP survey, community surveys on alcohol and marijuana, and the New York State Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

For 10 weeks this summer I had the amazing opportunity to work with the Young Scholars Liberty Partnership Program researching the impact of internship experiences on high school students and recent high school graduates. The Young Scholars Liberty Partnership Program was founded in 1993 through a collaborative effort between Utica University and the Utica City School District. The program was created to address the low graduation rates and encourage students to pursue higher education.

My fellowship took place at The Bell Tree, Inc. in Earlville, NY. The Bell Tree’s mission is to provide a safe and inspiring community space to play, learn, and socialize.