We caught up with Beccy Ives, a first year Conservation student, whilst she was completing an internship with Medway Norse this summer
This was the first year that Medway Norse has been a sponsor for EP, and they very keen to offer several internships in different departments – compliance, climate change and wildlife conservation – and we were very glad to have them on board. Medway Norse works in partnership with Medway Council to deliver a range of services to the commercial and private sectors, employing more than 800 staff. They have a team of rangers based at Riverside Country Park in Rainham, and we visited this beautiful setting to meet up with Beccy and the Senior Ranger – Becky Simmons – to see how the internship had been going.
Beccy had almost finished her 12-week internship with Medway Norse when we spoke to her, and it was clear to us just how much she had enjoyed her time there and how enthusiastic she was about wildlife conservation. As the staff there commented, Beccy has brought zest, enthusiasm and excitement with her every day and she has been a delight to have on the team. She far exceeded their expectations, having been very independent and excellent at building her own work structure and bringing ideas forward for projects that she could get involved in.
Much of Beccy’s time has been spent outside in the beautiful country park surveying flora, fauna, butterflies and bees throughout the summer, and she is looking forward to being able to provide a full and in depth report at the end of her internship. She was also able to attend meetings with Medway Council about tackling climate change and the links between this and biodiversity, an area that really interests her. She then spent time researching ways that they could make changes to positively impact the climate and biodiversity, helping to put together in depth plans for implementation. The placement has given Beccy excellent insight into local wildlife conservation, and has really helped her to start forming ideas for her dissertation as she goes into her second year.
Beccy would certainly encourage students to get involved in the EP scheme:
“Just do it! It doesn’t take long to build up your points, and although the motivation is to get enough to apply for the rewards at the end of the year, you will learn so much just by doing the workshops and other activities!”
She will certainly be back doing EP again during her second year, and we very much look forward to seeing her getting engaged with it and hopefully getting another reward or two again at the end of the year!
And we certainly look forward to seeing all the different ways that you get engaged in the scheme as well!
Interested in this opportunity? Find out more about Medway Norse and Riverside Country Park.