UC Merced SCICON Field Station Summer Internship a Huge Success!
We have exciting news from the SCICON field station! The annual SCICON/Circle J Norris Ranch/UC Merced Field Station Summer Internship was a huge success, and we had a total of 18 students, hailing from 8 different local area high schools participate in the 4-day internship (June 7th-10th). Of these students, some are already enrolled at UC Merced this fall, and we hope that more will consider being Bobcats at UC Merced as well! As part of the Long-term Oak Forest Inventory study, student interns learned about all aspects of scientific research work in an outdoor setting, including navigation and mapping skills, scientific data collection, and summary and analysis of results. Students had a wonderful and enriching experience, where they were able to show what they learned to their group of peers on the last day, discuss the greater implications of their research with respect to climate change and future research needs, learn about UC Merced education and research opportunities, and also celebrate their accomplishments together as a team. We look forward to many more years to come of offering this wonderful summer internship to local area students! Here's some exciting quotes from some of the students who participated:
"From this experience I gained navigation, communication, teamwork skills, and how I could analyze data."
"This internship gave me the experience and skills that I need to be able to apply to and get jobs in the future."
"This internship has been able to expand my knowledge in the field of scientific research, it has been able to give my career opportunities in future to come."
"This experience was amazing and I am grateful to the Circle J staff for making this possible for all of us."
"Through this internship, I have been able to expand my knowledge and put it to use. I learned leadership skills and how to navigate my way around. I leaned to appreciate those who made this experience possible. Overall I gained much knowledge from this internship which I hope to teach others interested in this field."
