Environmental Progress - Fall 2000

GEC Intern Program Wraps Up Ninth Year

In the last nine years, 357 interns got hands-on environmental work experience

At the start of last June, 35 college upperclassmen or graduates students, and one college-bound high school senior, were introduced to each other, then told to climb up a telephone pole and jump off. They also tried to demonstrate how difficult it can be not to fall off a log, and tip-toed through rope barricades. And that was only the first day for the year 2000 Governor's Environmental Corps interns in an outdoor challenge program at a learning center near Lake Shelbyville. Their outdoor challenge experiences were the focus of an article and cover story in the summer 2000 issue of Environmental Progress.

In the weeks to come the interns participated in more down to earth experiences ranging from the joys of IEPA field work and office work to playing games with day campers and cutting down unwanted saplings and using them to build streambank stabilization devices.

On August 3, they traded their lime green GEC tee shirts and their jeans for business attire, and had lunch at the executive mansion in Springfield to wrap up their summer. The Governor's Environmental Corps program uses corporate contributions to underwrite a nine week hands-on summer internship for college students interested in environment-oriented careers. This year's class was the ninth since the effort began.

The 36 interns in the summer 2000 program worked at the Springfield headquarters or the Agency's regional offices in assignments chosen to mesh with their scholastic goals. Work assignments included the Bureaus of Air, Land and Water as well as the Agency's laboratories, Office of Public Information, Information Systems and the Division of Legal Counsel. Field office assignments included the regional offices at Rockford, Peoria, Champaign, Springfield, Collinsville, Marion and the regional office then located at Maywood. Nine, with a special interest in environmental education, worked in the Junior GEC program which concentrates on providing environmental programs at assorted youth camps in central Illinois. Scheduled field trips took the interns to a coal mine, a power plant, a foundry, a water treatment facility, a landfill and a tire shredding operation.

Fifteen corporate sponsors were recognized during the lunch for providing the financial support essential to the program. They were designated gold, silver or bronze sponsors, in relation to the number of internships they sponsored.

The lunch featured an address by Director Tom Skinner, presentation of certificates and photos, and was highlighted by a video of the internship experience seen through the interns' eyes, put together over the nine week period by a group of the interns.