Intern Spotlight: Interview with 2021 PTL Intern Darren Yang

How did PTL influence your decision to pursue an environmental major in college?

PTL reinforced my passion for the environment and reassured me that this is what I wanted to do. When I was in the internship, I knew it was what I wanted to do in the future. It just felt right to me, and PTL helped steer me in that direction.

How did your experiences as an Arroyos and Foothill Conservancy intern provide insight into the environmental field and prepare you for college or a future career in that sector?

With PTL and the internship, I got a glimpse of all the physical labor of environmental work and the knowledge that is used, and the kind of work it is. And now I'm more confident as to what kind of environmental work I want to do, and I have more experience, which helps a lot.

Were you able to create relationships within the industry that could benefit you down the road?

Yes, definitely. I already have a strong connection with the interns I worked with, and we text each other and get together. I also have connections with my mentors as well. I'm glad I have that. And if I am looking for a job, I know I can reach out to them.

Could you describe your experience with the Arroyos and Foothill Conservancy Project Talent Launch Internship? What did you learn? What did your daily work entail?

The internship was eight weeks long. Every weekday we worked from eight to twelve every morning. Usually, the day before, since Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy has many environmental reserves, our team leader Tim Martinez would text us which reserve we would be on. Environmental work is all about experimenting and getting to go outside your comfort zone, and we had the opportunity to go to a new location almost every day. And when we went to the location, we would either have a maintenance work day or a learning day. Sometimes if it was a learning day, we would explore a new reserve, and Tim would walk us through the terrain and tell us about the plants and how the animals interact there. He would give us advice on how to, for example, deal with invasive species and keep the reserve healthy. And if it was a maintenance day, we would, with the advice that he would give, remove invasive species pick up trash, and prune the plants. Since it was summer, we did some fire prevention as well. To do so, we would prune the plants so that the dead parts of the forest would be cleared and there would be less chance of a fire.

What differentiated the opportunities offered by Project Talent Launch from other internships or jobs that you may have found or sought out last year?

Project Talent Launch offered an opportunity about teaching and help maintain the environment. I know some of the other organizations wouldn't be as thorough or focus on experiential learning. For AFC we got to go to several new locations and learn from each one.