Have an interest in the environment, conservation, and agriculture, particularly water and soil quality?
We are seeking undergraduate student interns for summer 2024 who are self-motivated, detail-oriented, strong communicators, enthusiastic, and have a sense of fun!
Interns’ time will be split between outreach and research, all centered around environmental issues and challenges in Iowa. Summer interns have the opportunity to:
Work with two award-winning Iowa State University education and outreach programs:
Develop strong oral communication skills as you help children and adults better understand environmental and agricultural issues
Travel throughout the state of Iowa with the fleet of Conservation Station trailers
Contribute to water and soil research projects with theConservation Learning Group, including a project exploring soil health and water quality impacts of relay intercropping as method of sustainable intensification
Gain technical skills related to agricultural and biosystems engineering, environmental science, soil health and water quality through both field and lab research
The program is based on campus at Iowa State University and will involve travel to various outreach events around the state, which includes some scheduled night and weekend events, as well as select research sites. This is a paid internship, $14.50 per hour, with students working up to 40 hours/week. The internship program begins Wednesday, May 15 and runs through Saturday, August 3, 2024.
The Iowa State University water resources internship program serves as an outstanding springboard for careers in agriculture, engineering, the environment, and/or further studies. Past participants in our internship program have gone on to such careers as project engineer, watershed coordinator, environmental educator, field research specialist, and USDA-FSA program technician, while others have pursued graduate school opportunities.
From a relatively small beginning as student research assistantships in 2007 with a single trailer-mounted rainfall simulator, to the addition of a second and the launch of the Conservation Station fleet in 2010, interns were integral to the program. Today, there are multiple Conservation Stations in regular use, and the teams of interns go out with them for nearly every visit.
Currently enrolled undergraduate student at a U.S.-based college, community college or university (open to all majors)
Demonstrate interest and/or background in environmental science, natural resources, conservation, soil and water quality, agriculture, and/or education
Evidence of strong communication skills
Ability to learn new tasks quickly
Teamwork skills
Self-motivated
Detail-oriented
Time management skills
Additional internship requirements include:
Valid US driver’s license
Background check with ISU Risk Management for working with youth
How to Apply:
Required application materials include:
PDF Resume (Be sure to include your GPA, major, and previous work experience)
PDF Cover Letter (Tell us what interests you about this internship and why you’d be a great fit!)
The internship application deadline is 5:00pm CT on Monday, February 5. Please submit your complete application package to Ann Staudt via email – astaudt@iastate.edu using “Water Resources Internship Application” as the subject line. We will conduct interviews with qualified students in early- to mid-February.
13 years. All 99 county fairs visited. 957 total events. 120,000 people reached. 200,000+ miles traveled.
The Conservation Station trailers have had QUITE the journey. With the original Conservation Station trailer officially launching in 2010, it’s wild to reflect back on 13 years on the road. 13 YEARS!
Just like our own personal vehicles experience significant wear and tear over that length of time, the same is certainly true for a trailer (even with annual inspections, new tires, and repairs to axles, batteries, generators, and pumps). So as trailer season was winding down in late summer/early fall 2022, plans were beginning to materialize for a new trailer body—keeping the tested-and-proven educational activities like the Rainfall Simulator and Watershed Game, and the walk-through Learning Lab integrating history, science, and art, with a fresh new trailer body to replace our original Conservation Station trailer. Building on the well-established and well-respected outreach delivered by the Iowa Learning Farms and Water Rocks! teams, this new trailer would provide longevity for these award-winning ISU Extension and Outreach programs to continue delivering highly engaging conservation and water quality outreach for years to come.
Now nearly 12 months later, I’m pleased to announce that we just premiered our brand-new Conservation Station trailer in early August (Latest Edition Conservation Station Debuts at International Conference in Des Moines)! This new refreshed Conservation Station trailer certainly builds on many lessons learned over the course of 13 years and the process of bringing 4 previous trailers to fruition. Join me behind-the-scenes as we explore the making of a trailer.
Fall 2022 First things first, building a new trailer takes TIME! We learned very early on that a custom trailer would likely be a 12-month project for construction of the trailer body itself (let alone all of the customization that would follow to make it an attractive and engaging unit for outreach).
With committed funds in place to replace the original Conservation Station trailer, the first step was evaluating exactly what we wanted in a new trailer. What elements did we like from our previous trailers (e.g. aluminum/fiberglass construction, air-conditioning, fold-down RV-style steps, built-in water tank, interior/exterior sound system, museum-quality lighting)? What elements/materials did we not care for/have consistent frustrations with?
Armed with our comprehensive list of needs, wants, and must-not-haves, we worked closely with ISU’s Procurement Services and Transportation Services to develop a public Request for Quote (RFQ) for a 20-ft enclosed trailer. Contractors had two weeks to submit bids for the project. Once the bid window closed, we closely evaluated each quote for adherence to the specifications, production price, and timeline and then awarded a winning bid.
Winter 2022-23 Once the bid was fully approved with ISU, the winning bidder/manufacturer provided us with detailed drawings of the trailer body for our review and revision prior to the start of any manufacturing. When building a trailer like this, SO many elements are customizable—including placement and style of side doors, rear doors, divider wall between front and back compartments, generator, and water tank. The one KNOWN element was that we’d be moving over our existing Rainfall Simulator from the original trailer, so we definitely needed this new trailer body to accommodate that footprint and all of its moving parts. The trailer drawings were approved in December 2022, parts ordered in December 2022 – January 2023, and manufacturing of our trailer was officially underway in February 2023.
Spring 2023 Trailer fabrication continues. We wait. Doors are impacted by supply chain delays. Door hardware is impacted by supply chain delays. We wait.
May 2023 We wait. We get the good news that trailer fabrication is COMPLETE and our new trailer is delivered on May 22!
June – July 2023 The summer months featured a flurry of activity getting the new trailer road-ready. While trailer spent very little of its summer with our team, it was in great hands with the folks at Lane Trailer Manufacturing Co., outside Boone, who transferred over the Rainfall Simulator to the new trailer, powder-coated the Rainfall Simulator, installed custom hardware for the new trailer, and equipped the rear of the new trailer with custom shelving to transport our education/outreach materials to and from events.
In the meantime, our visual outreach team worked on the graphic design/layout of the trailer wrap, both inside and out. We knew from the start that we wanted to feature the “Hope for Iowa” mixed media artwork created in 2018 for the original Conservation Station trailer, showcasing the beauty of Iowa’s landscapes, bridging the past, present, and the vision for a future we hope to achieve (Art and Science create Vision for Future in Conservation Station). ISU Printing Services and Transportation Services installed the trailer wrap in two layers—with the first layer including the digitized mixed media artwork, and funders added in the second layer via custom-cut vinyl lettering (think large-scale Cricut for you crafty types). At the same time, design, layout, and printing of the wrap for the insides of the back doors and the rear vinyl banner (behind the Rainfall Simulator) were also in production.
August 2023 We load soil trays into the Rainfall Simulator. We test the Rainfall Simulator with its new pump. We adjust water pressure to reach the desired placement and intensity of rainfall. We load the new trailer with hoses, electrical cords, power adapters, hand tools, bungee cords … all the behind-the-scenes supplies that accompany the trailer day-in-and-day-out. We move over our accompanying education/outreach materials, including the Watershed Game (Enviroscape) and its supply totes, Poo Toss game and its supply totes, sandwich board signs, pop-up tent and weights … We premier the new Conservation Station trailer on August 6!
While the new Conservation Station has made its official debut (and was the object of trailer envy for many conservation professionals across the country), we’re not done yet. As we’ve done in years past, we’ll continue to revise, refine, and adapt how we can create the most effective educational experiences for different audiences visiting the Conservation Station trailers. In particular, in the fall and winter months ahead, we are especially looking forward to diving in to the audio-visual capabilities of the new trailer, creating a series of video montages that will feature the voices of farmers, landowners, and conservation professionals from across the state, in synergy with the mixed media artwork highlighting Iowa’s past, present, and vision for the future.
From my perspective, success of our Conservation Station trailers requires five key ingredients: time, patience, amazing partners, focused messaging, and passionate educators. A trailer like this is truly a work of science and art, and it takes a village to make it happen. Thank you to everyone along the way who has visited our trailers, promoted them in your counties and communities, and continues to advocate for our land, water, and wildlife—you are all a part of this village!
The new Conservation Station trailer is a collaboration of Iowa Learning Farms, Water Rocks!, ISU Extension and Outreach, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (USEPA Section 319 of Clean Water Act), USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and the Iowa Nutrient Research Center.
We have a great crew of interns in the Iowa Learning Farms/Water Rocks! water resources internship program this summer and we’re excited to introduce them to you!
Zach Brecht, from Belle Plaine, IA, is majoring in Agriculture and Life Sciences Education at Iowa State University.
Sydney Chin is from Kamuela, HI, and is majoring in Agricultural Engineering at Iowa State University.
Kaitlynne Henriksen, originally from Avoca, IA, is majoring in Agricultural Systems Technology with a minor in Environmental Studies at Iowa State University.
Connell Lorenzen, from Polk City, IA, is majoring in Industrial Technology at Iowa State University.
Christopher Martinez, from Alleman, IA, is majoring in Environmental Studies at Iowa State University.
Be sure to check out our social media for updates on where and when we’ll visit an event near you. We will still keep in touch with all the great things they will be working on as each intern will be sharing a guest blog post about their experiences throughout the summer!
Plant the seeds of stewardship as a Water Outreach Specialist with ISU’s Water Rocks! and Iowa Learning Farms programs! The Water Rocks!/Iowa Learning Farms team is seeking a dynamic, high-energy educator to apply creative and fun approaches to teaching science concepts, inspiring Iowa’s youth to see the interconnectedness of water, land, wildlife, and humans.
The ideal candidate for this Water Outreach Specialist position will hold a BS degree in environmental science, agronomy, water resources, or comparable natural resources field, have experience with conservation and natural resources-focused outreach, strong writing skills, experience with content/data management, field work experience, and the ability to drive a truck/tow a trailer. Applications are due April 28
Our fleet of Conservation Station trailers are available free of charge and are a great addition to county fairs, farmers markets, festivals, and other community events. Submit your request by March 15 for priority consideration.
Yes! The Conservation Station trailers attend events fully staffed with 2-3 team members and free of charge. Many thanks to our partnersfor making this possible!
How do we request the Conservation Station for our event?
Submit a request online! Please note that submitting a request does not guarantee that the Conservation Station is booked for your event. We often receive many more requests than we are able to fulfill, and must implement a lottery system to determine which events we’ll be able to visit in the months ahead. Get your request in by March 15 for priority consideration!
Have an interest in the environment, conservation, and agriculture, particularly water and soil quality?
We are seeking undergraduate student interns for summer 2023 who are self-motivated, detail-oriented, strong communicators, enthusiastic, and have a sense of fun!
Interns’ time will be split between outreach and research, all centered around environmental issues and challenges in Iowa. Summer interns have the opportunity to:
Work with two award-winning Iowa State University education and outreach programs:
Gain technical skills related to agricultural and biosystems engineering, environmental science, soil health and water quality through both field and lab research
The program is based on campus at Iowa State University and will involve travel to various outreach events around the state, which includes some scheduled night and weekend events, as well as select research sites. This is a paid internship, with students working up to 40 hours/week. The internship program begins Wednesday, May 17 and runs through Saturday, July 29, 2023.
The Iowa State University water resources internship program serves as an outstanding springboard for careers in agriculture, engineering, the environment, and/or further studies. Past participants in our internship program have gone on to such careers as project engineer, watershed coordinator, environmental educator, field research specialist, and USDA-FSA program technician, while others have pursued graduate school opportunities.
From a relatively small beginning as student research assistantships in 2007 with a single trailer-mounted rainfall simulator, to the addition of a second and the launch of the Conservation Station fleet in 2010, interns were integral to the program. Today there are multiple Conservation Stations in regular use, and the teams of interns go out with them for nearly every visit.
Currently enrolled undergraduate student (open to all majors)
Demonstrate interest and/or background in environmental science, natural resources, conservation, soil and water quality, agriculture, and/or education
Evidence of strong communication skills
Ability to learn new tasks quickly
Teamwork skills
Self-motivated
Detail-oriented
Time management skills
Additional internship requirements include:
Valid US driver’s license
Background check with ISU Risk Management for working with youth
How to Apply:
Required application materials include:
PDF Resume (Be sure to include your GPA, major, and previous work experience)
PDF Cover Letter (Tell us what interests you about this internship and why you’d be a great fit!)
Internship application deadline is 5:00pm on Tuesday, January 31. Please submit your complete application package to Liz Ripley via email – ejuchems@iastate.edu. We will conduct interviews with qualified students in February.
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes How do you measure, measure a year? -Seasons of Love, RENT
As Water Rocks! celebrates its tenth anniversary (TEN YEARS! Can you believe it?!), we’ve been reflecting how we measure a year … how we measure ten years … and what it all means for youth water education across our state.
We could measure a year in the life of Water Rocks! in so many ways: In miles traveled, In schools visited, In students reached, In county fairs experienced, In numbers of Conservation Station visitors, In tires blown, in tents blown away (never a dull moment!)…
Yet one of the most powerful measures of a year in the life of Water Rocks! (WR!) comes in the form of evaluation—evaluation of both students and teachers. In short 45-minute high-energy, interactive presentations, to what extent are we moving the needle in terms of understanding natural resources issues, encompassing water, land, and wildlife—and inspiring the next generation of Iowans to take action?
Our 2021-22 Water Rocks! Evaluation Report helps to answer these questions and sheds light on the effectiveness of the lessons delivered across multiple interactive delivery mechanisms, in an educational landscape that is dramatically different compared to pre-pandemic years.
Student learning takes center stage
Student evaluation data are collected during every presentation for Grades 3–8 (the target audience for Water Rocks! outreach), in the form of a multiple choice “trivia question.” Student answers are collected by “secret vote,” with students closing their eyes, putting their heads down, and raising their hands for their chosen answer (completed via Qualtrics for virtual presentations). Students LOVE the fun trivia format, and it provides a quick + effective snapshot of student understanding at the beginning and end of each 45-minute presentation. This pre- and post-assessment “trivia question” is fine-tuned to focus on one of the important learning objectives for each module:
At the start of in-person WR! classroom presentations, 48% of students in Grades 3–8 correctly answered a key learning objective question, while that number rose to 89% following the WR! classroom presentation. For WR! Live Streaming virtual presentations, 50% of students in Grades 3–8 correctly answered a key learning objective question at the start of the presentation, with that number rising to 91% following the WR! presentation. Over the course of a short 45-minute interactive presentation, Water Rocks! is making an impact with Iowa’s youth, deepening their understanding of natural resources concepts.
Evaluation also serves as a powerful means of ongoing reflection—an internal feedback loop. When we see post-lesson understanding lagging, we discuss this as a team and strategize how we can tweak our lessons to be more effective. Maybe it’s slight relanguaging of an important term (or as we affectionately refer to them, “amazing terms of science!”). Maybe it’s greater repetition of a key concept, by integrating another couple rounds of call-and-response or “repeat after me,” or reviewing a concept one more time after a game to check for understanding. Maybe it’s tightening up (or eliminating) another element of the presentation to better focus on the key learning objectives. It’s always a work-in-progress, as well as being actively present and responsive in the moment with each given group of students.
Lights, camera, ACTION
Teacher feedback is another key element of our evaluation strategy with Water Rocks!. Each teacher is given a one-page evaluation questionnaire and a postage-paid envelope to drop the evaluation in the mail after the WR! visit is complete. The questions are predominately qualitative, open-ended questions, focused on student impacts.
Teacher evaluations suggest that WR! presentations serve as a springboard for deeper discussion of natural resources—and teachers are key partners in engaging youth on issues related to Iowa’s water, land, and wildlife. Following WR! classroom presentations, 93% of teachers reported that their students discussed the visit afterwards, with discussions primarily centered around the lesson, hands-on games, and activities. Following WR! virtual presentations, 95% of teachers reported that their students discussed the visit afterwards—often focused on the lesson and digital interactivity (such as virtual scavenger hunts), but also frequently turned toward taking action to address local issues—which is awesome! We ultimately want all students to learn AND act, so these are positive outcomes across the board.
Iowa’s current students are part of a generation keenly aware of and interested in their environment, welcoming insights on how natural resources interact with their lives, and willing and eager to use all branches of STEM and the arts to better understand the world around them. Building on its first ten years, Water Rocks! is well-equipped to engage with and empower Iowa’s youth toward thought, care, and action for the world around them in the years ahead!
Funding for Water Rocks! comes from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (United States Environmental Protection Agency/ Section 319 of the Clean Water Act), Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.Supplemental support comes from Iowa Learning Farms (collaboration on Conservation Station trailers), Des Moines Water Works, and contributions from ISU County Extension Councils and Soil and Water Conservation Districts statewide.
Water Rocks! has opened its classroom visit request platform for fall semester 2022 in-person school visits. The award-winning Water Rocks! program brings science- and research-based lessons about conservation, natural resources and water quality to Iowa schools free of charge. All sessions are correlated with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), adopted to guide curriculum in most Iowa schools. Classroom visit requests receive by this Friday, Aug. 26, will receive priority consideration for fall scheduling preference.
Water Rocks! classroom visits provide intensive hands-on and interactive learning opportunities within the span of a typical 45–50-minute class period. Each lesson is adapted for grade level appropriateness and can easily be scaled up or down when visiting multiple grades within the same school. The Water Rocks! team is happy to offer multiple presentations back-to-back to reach multiple classes and/or grades.
Water Rocks! classroom visit topics available for request include:
Water Rocks! will work with teachers to help determine the best module for their classroom and curriculum. The program also provides teachers with pre-visit and post-visit resources and activity recommendations to help maximize the benefits to students and expand the learning opportunities. In addition, programming can be adapted to incorporate relevant locale-specific information to include reference to projects at a school such as prairie restoration or butterfly gardens students may already know about.
Today’s guest blog post comes from water resources intern Nathan Lewis. Originally from Pagosa Springs, CO, Lewis is a junior at Iowa State University majoring in Biological Systems Engineering.
Hello! My name is Nathan Lewis and I grew up in Pagosa Springs, Colorado which is situated about thirty minutes from the Continental Divide. In my childhood, I spent a lot of my time exploring forks of the San Juan River, watching rodeos at our county fair, and learning as much as I could both in the classroom and outside of it.
Coming to Iowa, I was excited to explore and learn about a new environment. Being an intern for Water Rocks! and Iowa Learning Farms has allowed me to discover Iowa in more ways than I ever anticipated.
The county fair in my hometown consisted of a small number of livestock and 4-H presentations, with the main attraction being a rodeo show at night. I quickly realized that county fairs in Iowa were nothing like the ones I was used to. This summer, I have seen more pigs and cows than I thought was possible, nearly cried laughing from a 4-H presentation on “How to play Mario Kart on Wii,” and have met countless people who care about and want to learn more about water quality and conservation here in Iowa. One of my favorite conversations was with a farmer and a couple of his kids down at the Jefferson County Fair about conservation tillage on farms. The farmer was very friendly and provided me with valuable insight about his experience practicing conservation tillage and was eager to learn more about the benefits of no-till from me. This conversation along with countless others has given me opportunities to learn from members of the community in situations where I’m supposed to be the one teaching. Experiences like this have allowed me to broaden my knowledge and become a better teacher.
My favorite experience of this summer was a field day in which I assisted a graduate student Andrew Rupiper with his research on beavers. I, along with the four other interns, spent the day exploring multiple creeks along the Des Moines River in search of beaver dams. For the first time since moving to Iowa, I felt truly immersed with nature and it reminded me of my time growing up in Colorado. Through the field experience, I was able to learn how beaver dams improve water quality and how beaver dams can be responsible for the creation of oxbow wetlands. This knowledge has helped me become a better wetlands educator when I am out with the Marsh Madness Wetlands trailer.
As a part of this internship, I was also able to accompany Dr. Matt Helmers to Des Moines for the announcement of Iowa receiving additional funds from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce pollution in the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. I had the opportunity to meet Radhika Fox, who is the assistant administrator for water with the EPA and helped me to better understand the governmental side of conservation and where funding for conservation practices comes from.
Overall, this internship experience has helped me to understand all of the individual pieces of conservation and how they fit together. From community outreach to field days, each experience has allowed me to learn something new that is applicable to my degree in biological systems engineering.
Today’s guest blog post comes from water resources intern Alex McDougall. Originally from Melvin, IA, McDougall is a rising senior at Iowa State University studyingAgriculture and Life Sciences Education.
My entire life I have been fascinated with learning and would soak up information like a sponge. Therefore, I decided to pursue a career in education, so that I can keep on learning and sharing my knowledge with others. While I have had previous internships in education, none of them were quite like Water Rocks!.
One of my favorite parts of this internship is going into schools, libraries, and camps to teach youth about water conservation and how water issues are affecting Iowa. While there are many different lessons that Water Rocks! presents in classrooms, my favorite is the wetlands lesson. In this lesson, students learn the jobs of a wetland, the animals that live there, and the reasons why wetlands are important.
Teaching the Wonderful World of Wetlands at Van Buren County Community School District Summer School Program June 7
The wetlands lesson is my favorite to present because of how excited and engaged the students become. I believe one of the reasons for this is the students are able to relate to the issues and topics presented, such as the lack of places for migratory animals to stop at and the change of Iowa’s landscape to row crop agriculture. The students are more knowledgeable about wetlands, as well as the other lessons, than I would have ever thought for their age.
The students are so much fun to be around and it is very fulfilling to see the students get excited about the topics we are presenting. All the lessons have been created to be fun and engaging for students of all ages. The students get really into the activities from impersonating beavers, to migrating from Canada to Mexico through hopscotch, and learning about the inhabitants of wetlands through Bingo.
In my education classes, we are encouraged to develop an activity for every lesson that we teach to help the students apply what they are learning and to encourage meaningful learning. That is exactly what Water Rocks! does when we go to the classrooms. By getting the students involved in the lesson, they make discoveries about environmental issues around them and become more motivated to make a difference in their local environments. Some of these lesson activities I will be definitely using in my future classroom.
Coming into this internship, I didn’t think that I had that much knowledge about ways to protect our waterways and the importance of this. But, I have been proved wrong. As I’ve gone through the training to present the various lessons and the trailer activities, I’ve realized that I knew a lot about water conservation from my classes here at Iowa State University, such as prairie STRIPS, no-till, cover crops, green roofs, and watersheds. I have greatly enjoyed applying educational strategies and sharing my knowledge with today’s youth.
This internship has confirmed my love of learning and teaching. So far, all of my internship highlights involved interactions with children. As the summer progresses, I am so excited for the county fairs and interacting with the youth there.
Iowa Learning Farms 