Final Reflection

As a scientist, I am often confronted with elaborate equations — calculating species densities, basal areas, timber quantities, and so forth.  When you look at this blog, it could seem like an equation — flora, fauna, worksite and spike site locations, Corps Members and Crew Leaders all come together to equate to this VYCC experience.  However, if you were able to quantify all these experiences and get a number, that number wouldn’t be near the true value of the experience because of innumerable externalities that cannot possibly be quantified.  Sure, there is a tangible number of flora and fauna that I found, you can even count how many waterbars we built (somewhere in the range of 56 if my memory serves me right), but it is impossible to quantify the amount of knowledge we all gained, the experiences we shared, the fun we had, the leadership we developed, and even the physical, mental, and emotional strength we all achieved. 

What did I learn during this experience?  I hate to be clichéd, but what I didn’t learn is a better question.  This internship was probably like very few internships out there — instead of the majority of what I learned coming from peers higher up in the hierarchy (don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot during training from the headquarters staff), most of what I learned this summer came from feedback I received from my Co-Leader and the Corps Members (CMs) I was leading.  Essentially, the majority of what I learned was about my own leadership style, how it cohered (or didn’t) with that of my Co-Leader, and how it was effective (or wasn’t) when communicating to my CMs and motivating them into action.  One of my biggest take-home messages related to my own leadership development was the importance of effective communication.  Whether it was trying to motivate one CM the way I had just motivated another (it doesn’t work, trust me — learning styles are just as varied as leadership styles) or effectively and respectively disagreeing with my Co-Lead, communication became as difficult a challenge as any 600-pound rock I moved and as educational an opportunity as any University classroom experience I have ever had.

I learned a lot about my own leadership style, self-motivation, teamwork, and technical abilities just to name a few things.  I feel as though this first year as a Crew Leader was like a test to see if I could successfully lead and manage a crew and to find out if I have what it takes to be a great Crew Leader in the future.  I think this test challenged me and helped me improve my leadership abilities substantially so when I return in the future, I will have a good idea of what to expect and what I am capable of so as to make an even more enjoyable experience for my future Corps Members.  I also learned how to become more patient with my Co-Leader, Corps Members, and sponsors.  I believe one of my biggest challenges that I overcame that related to patience came during the Corps Members’ Weely Evaluations; my Co-Leader loved to talk and the first couple weeks I barely had an opportunity to say anything and was wondering if I should be patient and wait for an opportunity to give my CM feedback or if I should jump in whenever I got a chance because I knew that opportunity would never present itself — the challenge was figuring out how to balance jumping in to give feedback and when to sit back and be patient, hoping I would get a chance to speak up.

Last year I learned a lot about different teaching, leading, and learning styles but until this year — when I challenged myself and my crew to try different styles — I didn’t fully realize just how many there are!  One of the best things I learned from my crew this year was learning how to be flexible with your teaching and communication styles — as I mentioned before, what would motivate one CM into action doesn’t necessarily motivate the other seven; it was very enjoyable getting to know what motivated each of my Corps Members.

As important as it was to learn things from my Corps Members, I did learn a lot from my trainers at Head Quarters before the field season started up and again in the field from our sponsors.  This being my second season at the VYCC, I did know a lot of the basics, like how to use different tools and maintain them, what the policies are, and the basic flow of a VYCC workday.  On the other hand, after this year, I now have three entire notebooks full of notes from Head Quarters Staff on group dynamics, sex and gender identity, driving a van, specifics of each of my CM’s leadership development throughout the season, and so much more.  Once we got into the field, I noticed how there isn’t enough notebook paper in the world to be able to prepare myself for leading a crew and implementing all those things I just learned.  In the “classroom” we also took notes on different conservation techniques and then implemented our newly-learned techniques in the outdoor classroom at the training center (simply, the trails behind the Monitor Barn) and eventually in the field during the actual work season.  Since the Headquarters Staff is made up of recent college graduates with focuses in outdoor leadership, alternative education, finance, and business to name a few, we didn’t get many specialists in the field of conservation (there’s a good question for you: why isn’t there a conservation major at most universities?).  There were a few outside trainers that came in from trail-building companies and the like but the true conservation education came in the field when we got to spend long hours of the day talking with our sponsors about what brought them to the field they are in.  Some of my fondest memories came from our White River Partnership sponsor, Greg Russ.  Greg has a degree in history so he loves to talk about the land-use history of the different places we worked and is a very knowledgeable resources for any questions regarding erosion (he even gave me a small demonstration of the three different types of erosion that I just so happened to learn again in my plant and soil science class, but without the interactive outdoor classroom demonstration), riparian ecosystems, and our sad history of gravel mining in Vermont streams.  Being a lifelong fisherman and fly-fishing guide, Greg was also a subtle advocate of what I like to call stream restoration and I would often call him Hayduke as he would start to go off on tangents about dams and mutter kiddingly, “just a few well-placed charges; that’s all it would take.”  Having a similar mindset on those issues myself, I would often present my views on the matter and as Greg and I would talk about these ecological issues, it not only increased our own understanding of the issues but my CMs would jump in here and there and would walk away at the end of the conversation having gained a lot of insight from Greg and (I would like to think) myself.

            Now let’s see what skills and knowledge I can improve upon next summer…