The Arroyo interns worked hard this month to complete two projects, conduct informational interviews and participate in a presentation with Castro Valley and San Lorenzo Earth Teams.

The social media campaign ended in early May, concluding many weeks of creative posts to educate and encourage others to reduce waste. They reached an estimated 120 individuals and received a total of 3,332 Instagram story views across the entire campaign. Arroyo interns did such an amazing job and won 1st place in SEI’s Energize Schools campaign competition! Congrats interns!! You can read more about their campaign here.

The second project to be completed this month was the educational board game. Arroyo interns took inspiration from the Pandemic board game to create Plant-Demic. This game teaches players about the spread of invasive species! It will be available on Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator later this week. Read more about their creative process here.

The interns also spent May learning about life in college and various career paths. Intern first learned about informational interviews and how to expand their professional network. They then interviewed a young professional or graduate student of their choosing: a marine biology PhD student at UC Irvine, a recent art and design graduate, a young professional working in genetics and virology or a conservation community outreach and education professional. Zoom enabled the interns to chat with folks as far away as Ottowa, Canada!

Lastly, the interns joined San Lorenzo and Castro Valley Earth Teams to present the work they completed this year. They spoke about the restoration work they completed as well as the recommendations they have for making their community a more environmentally friendly place. The meeting was attended by Earth Team project partners and a local government official. You can watch the entire presentation here.