Student completes botany internship at Natural Tunnel State Park

Biology major Jesse Daniels (picture, far left) recently completed a summer-long internship at Natural Tunnel State Park in southwest Virginia. Jesse trained and worked with the horticulturist on staff and local master gardeners. He also worked on the removal of invasive plant species along the trails of Natural Tunnel State Park.

As a culminating project of his garden work, Jesse gave a workshop for the public on gardening, covering topics such as: intensive gardening, companion planting, vertical gardening, composting, natural weed control, and other techniques. 

Each year, a number of our biology students complete summer-long internships at public and private biology-centric organizations. These hands-on experiences not only translate to course credit, but also (and more importantly) are great for networking, and gaining practical experience in their field of choice. Many of these internships, like Jesse's, give students valuable experience in speaking to the public, and/or can ultimately lead to research presentations at state or regional conferences.