Environmental Education Intern Alumni

Connecting Vermont's youth with the natural world.

For those interested in environmental education, Audubon Vermont provides students and recent graduates with a paid internship. The Intern has the opportunity to gain practical experience teaching students (aged preschool through high school) while working directly with Audubon Vermont’s team of professional Teacher/Naturalists. Explore our Education Intern alumni and the articles they've written below. All internship positions are posted on our Job Opportunities page.

Alumni Network of Education Interns:

Eve Hallock (she/they)

Environmental Education Intern Spring 2023-Summer 2023

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Eve has been a lover of the outdoors their entire life, growing up in Vermont and spending their childhood exploring every forest and river possible. Eve’s love for the environment increased from a local to global scale when they first learned about climate change in elementary school. Since then, environmental protection and conservation has been their main passion in life.

Eve followed that passion to University of Vermont and graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. During the summers she spent her time as a Park Ranger at Vermont’s first state park, Mount Philo. She spent every day hiking and taking care of the land she grew up exploring. This experience cemented her desire to work in the field of environmental protection. Eve spent two seasons as Audubon Vermont's Environmental Education Intern.

Carter Larsen
Environmental Education Intern, Summer 2022

They/them/theirs
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Carter was raised in suburban New Jersey and spent time with family in West Dover during winter weekends and summer trips. Carter attends UVM, where they are studying Holistic Disability Education with a concentration in Place-Based Ed and a minor in American Sign Language. They love working with children and are especially interested in working with disabled children. Carter is passionate about making learning accessible for all children and believes it is important that educators are also disabled like themselves.

Carter has loved birds since they were 6 years old, when their grandma would show them the Blue Jays and Robins in her backyard. This summer they are working with Audubon as an Education Intern. This job brings together three of Carter’s passions — birds, children and place-based learning. They are excited to spend the summer outside: learning about different critters with children, looking for birds in the woods, and gaining teaching experience.

Mia Handte-Reinecker

Environmental Education Intern Spring 2022

She/her/hers

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Mia is in her final semester in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies. At UVM, she has had the opportunity to explore her interests in wildlife, natural history, and environmental education. She is originally from suburban Massachusetts and has been in Vermont since 2018. She grew up playing outside and became passionate about the outdoors at a young age. Mia loves Vermont and exploring all the natural aspects of this beautiful state through hiking, birding, and wildlife photography. Her favorite bird is the Pileated woodpecker- but she loves seeing all birds! Mia is excited for this internship opportunity to teach and learn! One day she hopes to be an environmental educator, building on her experiences this semester at Audubon Vermont.

Ben Klein

Environmental Education Intern, Summer 2021

He/him/his

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Ben is from Williston, VT and grew up attending Audubon’s camps and programs. He developed a passion for the outdoors at a young age, which has grown during his time spent running, hiking, biking, and skiing in Vermont. As an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan, Ben is studying chemistry with a focus on the environment with hopes of becoming an environmental educator in the future. At school, Ben is a member of several student-led organizations which aim to cut down the universities’ carbon footprint and educate the surrounding community about renewable energy. He is excited to join the Audubon Vermont team and to contribute to the ongoing conservation camps and programs. In his free time Ben enjoys running, cooking, and playing the piano.

Kaitlin Fackler

Engagement Intern, Spring 2021

she/her/hers

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Growing up in Loveland, Ohio, Katie and her family developed an interest in bird watching after their small feeder became overwhelmed by a growing avian community, and was upgraded to a 12ft bird buffet by her Dad. As new birds began to visit, Katie developed an interest in their names, habits, and migration patterns, leaning on Audubon's resources to help her learn. After she began her undergraduate career at the Ohio State University in 2017, she took classes from economics to acting, in an attempt to find her “true calling”. It wasn’t until after she signed up for the Ohio birds class in her sophomore year that she realized how much she enjoyed learning about nature. She immediately entered into the environmental science major with a specialization in ecosystem restoration and joined the Society for Ecological Restoration at OSU where she serves as club secretary. Katie aspires to build a career designing environmental education resources, available in a variety of learning styles, to reach people of all demographics and ages interested in nature and science, following her graduation in the Spring of 2021. In her free time, Katie enjoys reading, crafting, baking, hiking, and spending time with her friends and family.

Where are they now? Katie now works at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as Environmental Communications and Administrative Support.

Alexander Cotnoir

he/him/his

Engagement Intern, Spring 2021

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Alexander’s passion for STEM education is rooted in his home in the theNortheast Kingdom of Vermont where a love of nature, hiking, and hunting alongside his grandfather created a passion for wildlife conservation, ecology, and agriculture. As a Dartmouth College undergraduate, he served as a teaching assistant for ecology and writing courses and worked in the university’s rare books and archives collections to explore his interest in regional history. As a member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation, Alexander is particularly passionate about exploring the ways in which Indigenous communities relate to Vermont’s landscapes. After graduating with a degree in Environmental Studies and a concentration in Native American Studies, Alexander has worked in outdoor educational programs across Vermont and more recently at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. His experiences working with programs helping first-generation students prepare for collegiate social and academic pressures have informed his passion for supporting students who struggle to find their place in academics. In his spare time, he is training for his first marathon, publishing athesis on migratory warblers, and honing his harmonica playing skills.

Where are they now? Alex earned his M.A.T. George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. He is the ducation Specialist at The Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA's flagship observatories based out of Johns Hopkins University campus.

Ciara Fagan

Education Intern, Spring 2020/Fall 2020/Spring 2021

She/hers/they/them

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Ciara Fagan was a ten-year-old growing up in New Jersey when she declared that her future career would be, “environmentalist”. Since then she has worked towards this goal through attending marine biology camps, fighting for compost at her high school, attending climate marches, and now interning with Audubon. Ciara is in her fourth year at UVM studying Environmental Studies with a minor in Human Development and Family Studies. As her view of what being an “environmentalist” has shifted and evolved, Ciara has gained interest in being an environmental educator and specifically exploring integrating environmental education within the community and strengthened sense of place, as well as reaching audiences that have not traditionally been included in the environmental education field and broadening this accessibility. Ciara is excited for to opportunity to put her interests and enthusiasm to work at Audubon this spring and looks forward to learning even more about what roles environmental education can play in building community. In her free time, Ciara can be found birding, baking, doing crosswords, hiking, and painting.

Where are they now? Ciara is working at NYC Plover Project as their Education Manager.

Mady Corkum

Environmental Education Intern, Spring 2020

She/her/hers

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Mady is from Essex, Vermont and is currently a senior studying wildlife biology at UVM. Mady grew up exploring the woods, hiking, and skiing with her parents and little brother. She attributes much of her passion for teaching in the natural world to summers spent attending camp at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. It was here that she was exposed to birds of prey and a better understanding of the intricacies of the natural world. Mady found her love of birding after taking Field Ornithology through UVM and continues to bird on campus, naming the Intervale as one of her favorite places to bird in the Burlington area.Mady has been with Audubon Vermont for the past two summers working as summer camp staff. This experience has solidified her love of teaching in the outdoors and upon graduating she hopes to be working in similar environments, being able to share her enthusiasm for the natural world with the next generations of naturalists.Mady is beyond excited to be back and interning at Audubon this semester and names her main focus as development of service-learning programs for all ages.

Where are they now? Mady finished her Masters in Middle Level Education and Teaching at UVM. She now works as a middle school Math teacher in Vermont.

Jake Cohen

Environmental Education Intern, Fall 2019

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Despite growing up in Hingham, Massachusetts, Jake’s best childhood memories come from frequent trips to the Mad River Valley in Vermont. He is a recent graduate of the University of Montana with a B.S. in Microbiology. Before college, Jake spent six years as an educator and aquarist at the New England Aquarium. At the University of Montana, he spent three years conducting undergraduate research in the fields of biomedical microbiology, behavioral ecology, and watershed hydrology. He also served as a student senator and as president of the Chinese club. Jake hopes to obtain a Ph.D. in ecology and work on ecosystem conservation, environmental restoration, and policy. In his free time, Jake loves backpacking, running, skiing and travel.

Henry Freundlich

Environmental Education Intern, Fall 2019

He/him/his

My name is Henry Freundlich and I am a rising senior at the University of Vermont; with a major in environmental studies and a concentration in the fields of conservation, education, as well as justice. I grew up on Long Island NY and became connected with the landscape by exploring nature, mainly through fishing, bird watching, hiking and kayaking. As a first-year student, I knew that I was in the right place to pursue what I was passionate about, nature and the outdoors, but wasn’t sure how I was going to go about it. After taking Birding for Change with Trish O Kane, a hands on, service learning courses that directly engaged me with the local youth and outdoor education, I recognized the power in working with young people and stimulating their minds with experiences outside. I am excited to have the opportunity to further my drive for what I am passionate about while also getting the chance to share my joy with kids and make this experience a learning one for both of us.

Where are they now? Henry earned his MA in Environmental Conservation Education at NYU and now works as a Environmental Education Assistant for NYSDEC.