In the Summer of 2023, Jade Affleck, Kate Morton, Gabrielle Perez, and Gabriela Wolfe took part in a 10-week Conservation & Collections Summer Internship program, led by co-mentors Tiana Rehman (Director of the Philecology Herbarium) and Dr. Brooke Best (Director of Texas Plant Conservation). At the end of the summer, we asked them to select a few photos that best encapsulate their summer or their favorite moments. Below are their answers!
Jade Affleck
University of North Texas, May ’23 grad, B.S. Ecology for Environmental Science (Chemistry minor)
Jade: It’s been so amazing becoming closer to these girls and truly becoming friends! We worked hard in the field and have gained so many skills throughout our time at the BRIT. This internship only deepened my love for prairies and hands-on work!
Jade: This internship fostered many new connections and has been such a great networking experience. Our internship ended with the Texas Plant Conservation Conference, and it was such a good way to see our work come to fruition and be reminded of the bigger picture and goals of this field. [All four interns pictured wearing red shirts to identify them as helpers, posing with Sam Kieschnick from Texas Parks & Wildlife Department]
Jade: We were given the opportunity to create a poster for TPCC. The photo here is me at my first legitimate conference experience and poster presentation. I’m very proud of the work the conservation and collection interns did this summer and it was amazing to get to talk to other people in the field about our time at the BRIT and it was inspiring to see all the cool projects other people are working on.
Kate Morton
Texas A&M University, Dec ’24 grad, B.S. Bioenvironmental Science (Ecology & Conservation Bio. minor)
Kate: I gained extensive experience in field work throughout the internship. I have always been interested in pursuing a career that is field work intensive and these collection days at Rock Creek Ranch Park confirmed my passion. I also gained a new found love and respect for prairie landscapes. There is so much diversity in these habitats that often go overlooked.
Kate: I have met so many amazing people and learned from multiple mentors at BRIT this summer. The other interns and I became very close throughout the course of the summer and we hope to stay in touch long after the experience concludes.
Kate: The internship ended with the opportunity to attend and present a poster at the Texas Plant Conservation Conference. It was an incredible networking opportunity and the research I conducted when preparing a poster for the conference sparked my growing interest in botanical research. The Conservation and Collections internship has been a very rewarding experience and I hope the opportunity will arise to work with BRIT again soon.
Gabriela Wolfe
Texas A&M University, Dec ’22, B.S. Biology (Anthropology minor)
Gabi: It was incredibly exciting to learn how to ethically conduct fieldwork. The voucher I’m holding here (GPW 11) was one that Tiana pointed out to me, but it’s fruit really caught my attention due to the strange shape (at least strange to me). Later on, the fruit became the first one I sectioned. Once dissected, I was enamored by the way the seeds overlapped each other.
Gabi: Something really exciting about this summer is how close I got with the other interns. Our last morning out in the field, we wanted to take some fun photos at the spot where we started the summer. And, of course, we had to do the obligatory jumping photo.
Gabi: We all worked really hard to put together this project. For all of us, we got to attend our first conference and present our research.
