Where is She Now

By: Grace Eggleston, Former Communications/ Photography Intern
This past April, my fantastic internship with Venture Outdoors came to an end. After finishing up my junior year at Pitt, I packed the car and drove down to Washington DC to start my next adventure… as a Communications Intern at the World Wildlife Fund US Headquarters!
I’m now halfway through my internship, and absolutely loving it! As a Communications Intern on the Science Team at WWF, I have a handful of different jobs. I help out with social media, create flyers for events, and contact WWF grantees for information on their conservation projects. My main job, however, has been to help the WWF Education for Nature (EFN) team write their annual report. The EFN program exists specifically to fund people’s graduate and doctoral degrees in conservation related fields. Most of the grantees come from developing countries, and after earning their degrees (usually in the U.S. or Europe) they return home to fill much-needed conservation roles in their communities. It’s certainly an inspiring project to be working on!

 
I have already learned so much just from hanging out in the WWF building for six weeks. The people here are extremely passionate about conservation science and come from every corner of the world. One of the coolest things about working here is that, because it’s the US Headquarters, people from different organizations are constantly giving presentations on their new and exciting research. Every day of the week employees have the opportunity to join these speakers while on their lunch breaks. I’ve been lucky enough to see presentations by NASA scientists, a New York Times journalist, multiple WWF grantees, and the head of the WWF Communications team, to name a few. Topics range from what it’s like to report on elephant poaching in Africa to how to successfully map mangroves with satellites from space.
Overall it’s been an amazing summer with WWF. Plus, being in DC, I have access to some pretty awesome outdoor fun on the weekends!! I may or may not have escaped the city to Shenandoah National Park and the Appalachian Trail a few times already. When summer is over I’ll be back in Pittsburgh for my last year at Pitt. I hope to see you all OUTSIDE this fall!!