Internship
Wellness Internship (Pet Plants Initiative)
Organization
WISER Center
SUNY Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Avenue.
Potsdam, NY 13676
About the Organization
The director of the WISER Center is Raymond Bowdish. Raymond was my supervisor for the internship. As directed by SUNY Potsdam's Department of Biology, the Wagner Institute for Sustainability and Ecological Research (WISER), provides applied research and educational programming in sustainability and ecology. The WISER activities and outreach begin on campus and extend to our local and global communities. The WISER center offers workshops, internships and events.
Duties
Duties included maintenance in both greenhouses such as pressure washing, sweeping, washing pots and helping others around you. For this internship, the requirements included propagating plants, transplanting, treatment to diseased plants (spraying neem oil), pruning plants, watering plants, working with individuals struggling with mental health and taking contemporaneous notes to document your work and personal reflection. I spend at least 10.5 hours a week in the WISER center to ensure all responsibilities were taken care of. This internship is unpaid and based on voluntary work. You may have the opportunity to plan an event and for my personal internship, I hosted a wellness event.
Summary
My internship; the Wellness internship, was sponsored by the WISER center at SUNY Potsdam. The WISER Center comprises three greenhouse zones (including the Stowell Biodiversity Classroom). The wellness internships main focus is centered around plant care being a proxy for mental health and wellness. Working with plants directly can be therapeutic for individuals struggling with physical and mental health issues. By caring for plants, you can learn to care for yourself and find a sense of purpose by helping the environment. Throughout my internship I worked with several plants. I had to water these plants, treat them for disease, re-pot them and identify the parasites that cause disease in these plants. I started the internship with these plants needing to be restored. They were not watered or cared for over three months and my goal was to restore them while focusing on my own mental health. I learned many valuable skills during the course of this internship including propagation techniques, transplanting, social awareness, public speaking and event planning. When caring for plants I felt very grounded and in tune with my inner dialogue. Caring for plants offers a calming escape from the stresses of everyday life, like school, providing a peaceful moment of connection with nature and a sense of personal accomplishment.