The skill that I have developed the most at this internship, as strange as it may seem, is listening. A majority of my internship requires me to listen to what my mentor tells me, and then work on my own. He is always open for me to ask him questions, but he mostly tells me what is going on at the beginning of the day, and then I work independently. I was surprised at how much I have learned at this internship just by taking a moment to listen to the people around me. I work with a lot of experienced ecologists who have a wealth of information to share. Every day, I learn about a new species of plant, how certain organisms behave in their natural environment, and much more. Since I work outside every day that I am at my internship, I have a lot of hands-on learning opportunities. By just listening what people have to say, I can learn a lot about creek ecosystems and other environmental fields.
This skill will be extremely useful in the future because as I go through college and eventually into a career, I will have to have good listening and organization skills to keep up. Also, I will need to have great listening skills if I want to become more knowledgeable in certain subjects. Especially because I want to be involved in environmental science, there is a lot to learn, and the only way to learn is to actively listen to professors, mentors, or other educated people.
