Sea-zing the day: Linden Campbell-Godfrey’s Coastal Internship

Earlier this year, specifically the spring semester, I remembered scanning the FER board, CNR postings, and job sites to find the perfect internship. It was a difficult process, and my confidence was declining. Finally, I came across one that was in my hometown, marine science-focused, and had almost 400 hours’ worth of experience. It was so perfect I couldn’t believe what I saw. I immediately turned in my application, interviewed, and received the internship. I was ecstatic! I was so fortunate and looking forward to starting, little did I know it would lead to the best summer experience I could ask for.

My name is Linden Campbell-Godfrey, and I’m a junior at North Carolina State University studying environmental sciences. This past summer, I was known as the Research Intern at the North Carolina Estuarine Research Reserve System at the Rachel Carson site. The job was Monday-Friday, 8-4. This was a huge change for me and gave me a glimpse of the work I will hopefully be doing when I finish my degree. The Rachel Carson Reserve is in Beaufort, NC, exactly where I grew up! Since I grew up in Beaufort for 18 years, I was already knowledgeable about the area, including multiple visits to the reserve, so I was excited to work in such a special place. Most mornings, I checked emails and completed office and field work as scheduled. I learned about estuarine environments, research methods, and various aspects of reserve management and education.

Throughout my past college years, I was so nervous about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I took textile classes, insect classes, and much more. This summer, although I have lived at the beach for most of my life, it was set in stone that I wanted to focus on a career involving marine science. My favorite days at my internship were field days. They ranged from doing activity budgets, drone surveys, wildlife surveys, water quality monitoring, and island maintenance. During one of our days of maintenance, I remember seeing Wilson’s Plover chicks (a seabird), and I was amazed. We all looked at them for almost 20 minutes in astonishment. Wilson’s plovers are endangered in other states but a special concern in North Carolina, making it uncommon for us to see them. Some of the surveys accomplished were Terrapin Tally’s and sand dollar surveys. The Terrapin Tally is a state-wide survey to track the population of Diamondback terrapin, a turtle species that is native to coastal tidal marshes

We also completed sand dollar surveys. This is where we went and counted the number of sand dollars we could find to see if there were any differences in each survey. This determines if there needs to be a limit on the amount the public can take.

The most outstanding part of this internship was visiting the Bonehenge Whale Center. Halfway through the internship, the interns from the North and Southern sites of the reserve system visited ours, and we participated in multiple different learning activities. One of these activities was getting a tour of Bonehenge. The whale center is in Beaufort, North Carolina, and was honestly a life-changing experience. We talked about marine cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) and saw their displayed skeletons and the story behind each. There were so many different unbelievable stories, and I was just in awe. The stories ranged from boat strikes that stranded marine mammals to a simple balloon getting stuck in their digestive system. This made me realize just how important marine conservation is, how it needs more attention, and how I found something I was truly passionate about. Did you know North Carolina has 34 species of cetaceans documented? This is one of the largest numbers of documented cetaceans in all the states. I truthfully believe if you have the time, you should check out this whale center – it might change your life.

With all the fun activities and hands-on field days, I also had projects to work on. These included analyzing long-term water quality data, ArcGIS training, and evaluating the drone survey we did to look at changes over the years to the living shoreline. All these projects gave me insight into different research implications and skills needed to perform these tasks. All my projects are now archived in the reserve system, which makes me excited because I know the tasks I completed are meaningful. These skills will impact me for the rest of my professional and personal career.

My experiences, teamwork, and interactions from the summer remain deeply meaningful and continue to influence my daily life. As I continue through my last few semesters, I will continue to apply and hopefully succeed in securing another internship. Experience has been the best thing for me to get real-world work experience, and I’ve been able to begin to do what I love. I’m beyond thankful for this experience, as it has provided me with the first steps into this exciting field, and I can’t wait to see what lies beyond this year.