Intern Spotlight: Annie Dysart’s Internship at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District

Annie Dysart is a senior double majoring in Environmental Studies and Writing-Intensive English. She spent her summer working as the Outreach Intern at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), a regional government agency that provides water reclamation and flood management services to over 1.1 million people. As the Outreach Intern, Annie’s job was to help educate the public about MMSD’s environmental initiatives and assist with District communications and branding.

Annie spent half of her time in the MMSD office headquarters and the other half tabling at community events. At the beginning of her internship, she was tasked with finding events to attend and reaching out to community organizations hosting them. While she was in the office, she was involved in designing interactive activities and handouts that draw people in during events and teach them about how they can protect Milwaukee waterways. She had a lot of independence in these projects and was trusted by her supervisor to attend events on her own. By the end of her internship, she had represented MMSD at 15 community events and verbally communicated their message to over 1,000 people.

It was critical that Annie was knowledgeable about all MMSD does and why it is important before going out into the community to represent MMSD and answer the public’s questions. She learned about the wastewater treatment process, green infrastructure, water conservation, climate change, pollution and stormwater runoff, flood management, and much more. She was also trained in public outreach strategies, which helped her express her knowledge confidently and effectively express the messages MMSD needed to get across to the public.

Interning at MMSD gave Annie many opportunities to apply and develop the skills she has acquired from her Environmental Studies and Writing-Intensive English majors in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. Working in a professional setting for the summer made her feel more capable and confident in her abilities than ever before. She believes that an internship is a great way for students to accelerate professional development and help them figure out the sort of careers they would like to pursue in the future.

 

For more information about the Launch Program and the requirements to earn academic credit for your internship, contact:

Dr. Rosemary Stuart Launch Internship Director Wehr Life Sciences, 309 rosemary.stuart@marquette.edu