𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨In my role with the Bee Squad, I am responsible for a variety of tasks. I assist in conducting bumble bee research through the Minnesota Bumble Bee Atlas Project to monitor the health and status of bumble bee populations across our state. Additionally, I contribute to writing and outreach projects that aim to help Minnesota residents protect pollinators within their own landscapes. I often translate this knowledge into in-person interactions, through participation in a variety of pollinator-focused educational outreach events. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡At the Bee Squad, I work with a wonderful team of fellow environmental educators and researchers, all of whom possess different levels of expertise in different areas relating to pollinators. Our team is passionate about our work to protect and conserve Minnesota's vast population of bees and other pollinators. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭With a variety of tasks comes a variety of work methods. Bumble bee research is done through fieldwork with the collection of specimens, followed by colony rearing and maintenance at the lab. Additional writing and communication work is done alongside a team, where we gather information from a variety of sources, connect with experts, and ultimately create resources to share with the public to aid in understanding of how to protect pollinators. When participating in outreach events, I use our Pollinator Education Toolkit as a guide, as it is full of interactive games, images, and resources to enhance understanding of pollinators to the general public.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝My main task with the Bee Squad was participating in outreach events to teach the public about the importance of pollinator health. We engaged with event attendees by playing educational games related to pollinators, answering questions, and by providing examples of what you can do to help pollinating insects at home. In this position, I had the opportunity to participate in bumblebee surveys, which help to gather meaningful data for researchers investigating pollinator health. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡At the Bee Squad, I worked alongside a great team of fellow environmental educators and researchers. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭My fellow environmental educators facilitated my learning about bees and pollinators in general, as well as explaining how to effectively teach others this information. At our outreach events, we used our Pollinator Toolkits, which are made up of games, interactive models, and detailed photographs to teach people about the variety of bee species in Minnesota, how pollinators are essential to the global food supply, and some other fun facts about pollinating insects.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝At IonE, my main task consisted of completing fact-checks for Ensia Magazine. In this process, I used my research and editing skills to ensure the information published by Ensia was factual and accurate. The completion of fact checks allows for the articles to be published with the magazine. In addition to fact checks, I created social media content, mainly for Twitter and Medium. I had several articles published to Ensia while I was employed with IonE. At IonE, I was an active member of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice committee and the Change Team. These groups, are working to push IonE forward with anti-racist and equitable action to create a more positive and inclusive work environment as we work to solve environmental problems. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 At Ensia Magazine, I worked with a wonderful team of editors, along with the rest of the staff at the Institute on the Environment. I communicated directly with freelance writers who created content for publication by Ensia. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭The process of fact checking has gave me substantial experience with Microsoft Word. Prior to my work with Ensia, I had limited experience working with the Microsoft Office Suite in general, and editing of articles had taught me how to successfully use Word. Fact checking has also strongly increased my researching skills, as there is a lot of internet research that comes along with fact checking. I have learned how to create successful social media posts through reading other Tweets. During my time at Ensia, my writing, editing, and communication skills grew significantly.