Jessica Britten, the newest member of the EPCAMR team as of January 2019, is a student-intern from King’s College. She is in her fourth year, receiving her B.A. in Environmental Studies this coming May. Her career at King’s began with a year of Neuroscience, providing her with a scientific platform for the three years of her environmental education. Jess has two educational focuses: one is in Professional Writing, in which she has geared toward research writing as well as writing for non-profit organizations. The second in is Wildlife Conservation, in which she has mastered not only the scientific but, the economical, sociological, and psychological reasonings behind man-made environmental degradation. At the conclusion of her internship and time at King’s College, Jessica will be prepared to work as an environmental professional. She will be ready to positively impact the consciousness and behaviors of her community members in effort to improve the livelihood of all living and non-living things. She’ll be interning with EPCAMR on a part-time basis through the Work Study Program at King’s College through mid-May 2019.
“Jessica’s background in technical writing and communications for non-profit organizations will be helpful to EPCAMR. We’re hoping to have her create some write ups on our projects that we can post to our website to give the public a better understanding of the range of work that the Staff at EPCAMR do across the Anthracite and Northern Bituminous Coal Region,” stated Robert Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.
Jess has interests in working in the environmental education, nonprofit, and research sectors. At her college she heads and founded the Community Garden, is the Secretary of OxFam America, and participates in a Sustainability Initiative program with a group of faculty and students. EPCAMR, having focuses on all three sectors, is the perfect place to provide her with all the necessary tools for a complete education from King’s College.
“Jessica’s experience with the Community Garden at King’s is going to be a huge compliment to our current work with our Growboxx Reclaiming Our Backyard Project with ISI, Inc., Groasis, and the Mental Insight Foundation. We will be working with the local school districts in the Wyoming Valley where we are going to be piloting the planting of community gardens with 4th grade students and their families in their neighborhood backyards. Jessica has offered to take a few of the Growboxxes and plant them in the King’s College Community Garden on Madison Street for EPCAMR with student volunteers,” mentioned Robert Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.
Jessica grew up in Warren County, New Jersey, spending most of her time outside exploring the Delaware River and the Appalachian Mountain region. She was raised on hiking, fishing, snowmobiling, and a constant yearn for adventure. She spent summers in the mountains of West Virginia, where she would hike, ride quads, and learn to paint. Since Jess was in the third grade, she has never been found on an adventure without a book, a journal, and a pen. She loves to read and to write and takes interest in reading and writing essays with geocentric worldviews. She also enjoys wrestling, playing lacrosse, longboarding, and attending concerts.
“Having the opportunity to begin my professional career with a nonprofit like EPCAMR makes me extremely grateful and excited for what is to come. From educating students on environmental awareness, amending the issue of Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD), and making Pennsylvania a healthier and more sustainable place for humans and other living organisms, the importance of their work is beyond measure. This is a wonderful place to dip my toes in the water and experience what being an environmental professional is really all about,” exclaimed Jessica.
“We’ll be having Jessica help us gather background information, reports, historical maps, and resources on the Toby Creek watershed for the eventual completion of our Upper Toby Creek Coldwater Conservation Plan (CCP) in partnership with PA Council of Trout Unlimited and the Coldwater Heritage Partnership (CHP). She’ll be able to become certified during her internship as a Lead Observer for Aquatic Organism Passage to help assess culverts within the watershed and will assist with water quality and biological monitoring of tributaries and streams within the Upper Toby Creek. On her first day in the Office, she has already found nearly two dozen reference reports that she will be researching and citing to assist with the development of the Toby CCP. Should EPCAMR get funded for the Huntsville Creek CCP, another major tributary to the Upper Toby Creek, that was recently applied for, she will be able to perform similar tasks in the other portion of the watershed in the Back Mountain. She’ll be tasked with various projects to assist the EPCAMR Staff over the Winter into the early Spring that will provide her with a great experience. She’ll surely find out what it’s like to work in an environmental non-profit that has been tasked for the last two decades that have been working hard on AMD, abandoned mine land reclamation, environmental education, and stream restoration projects to restore, reclaim, and remediate our environment.” said Robert.
Jessica on the Freel Peak Tahoe Rim Trail in Nevada at 9600′ in elevation.
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