Hi, I’m Mary! I will be entering my third year of Environmental Studies this fall. This summer, I’m a Lands intern for Chateh in Dene Tha’ First Nation. Since this summer has been different in a lot of ways, I’ve ended up mainly working online to support Beaver First Nation in addition to Chateh.
It’s already August, but this is my first blog about the summer. With all the ups and downs of this year, it’s helpful to have the benefit of hindsight when writing about my experience as an intern. After all, 2020 has been unpredictable for everyone.
Engage North has a strong community focus. Interns usually travel to Northern communities for a completely immersive experience through working, learning, and connecting with host communities. As a Lands intern I might have spent lots of time outdoors learning about the natural environment, and building relationships with community members.
Although traveling to a community wasn’t possible this year, I didn’t hesitate to work online given the situation of COVID-19 (I've shared a picture of my workspace below). Working remotely is an entirely new experience for me, and here I’ll tell you a bit about it!
Since May, myself and our team of interns (Jenna, Katie, and Stenette) have done our best to connect with Beaver First Nation online. There have been plenty of video calls, phone calls, and emails exchanged. Given the hands-on nature of Engage North, at first it wasn’t clear how best to support Beaver.
Taking initiative at work is always important, but it’s both more difficult and crucial when working online. It’s been absolutely necessary to reach out consistently by email and to be available for phone calls. At the same time, I’ve learned to be patient when waiting for replies, especially considering contacts in Beaver are responding to the crisis of COVID-19.
The first couple months of the internship were a mix of training, intern meetings, and finding online information to support Beaver. I spent a good chunk of time looking for project funding, and reading up on projects. Many of Beaver’s projects are new to me, so having the time to learn about them online has been helpful.
Despite the difficulties of working remotely, it has been an incredible learning experience in adaptability, creativity, and connecting with people virtually. I often remind myself that I don’t know the situation on the other end of the computer, so we all must stay flexible.
Now that you’ve heard a bit of my experience working from home, here’s one big detail I haven’t mentioned yet: Jenna and Stenette were able to travel to Beaver in early July! While Katie and I continue to work online, there’s been a noticeable change ever since Jenna and Stenette have been in Beaver. I’d love to talk more about this, but I think I’ll save it for next time.
Until then,
Mary
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