2015 Summer Interns

We are excited to have finalized the team for our summer season on Hurricane Island! Our summer interns will arrive in late June and help with the delivery of our middle and high school summer programs. They are an integral part of our community and we are looking forward to having them on the island. Stay tuned for updates from our interns about programs on the island, research, and more!

Jacqueline Rosa - Science & Experiential Education Intern

Originally from Connecticut, Jacque earned her degree in Marine Science from the University of Maine. During her time at UMaine, she spent a summer working at the Darling Marine Center (DMC) while completing her capstone research on the American lobster. Jacque then participated in the DMC's Semester by the Sea program. After graduating, she moved to California to work as a Marine Science Instructor at Catalina Island Marine Institute. She is passionate about helping kids gain environmental awareness and is excited to be back on the beautiful coast of Maine (and finally eat lobster again!).  

Olivia Lukacic - Science Education Intern

Olivia was born and raised in Massachusetts, but has now fallen in love with Vermont while attending the University of Vermont for the past three years. Studying environmental science and forestry has allowed her to critically look at the space around her with greater understanding. Although she spends classroom time daydreaming about being outside, she hopes to work to combine education and the environment to inspire the younger generation of scientists! While at school she spends many of her mornings on the Lamoille River watching the sunrise as a member of the women's rowing team. Waking up in the dark is tricky, but she would not trade the unique perspective on the river for anything. When Olivia is not rowing, she loves hiking, climbing, exploring, as well as reading and cooking! During winter, which is in her top two favorite seasons, she loves cross country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding and making paper snowflakes. Her love for the outdoors began while growing up on conservation land and she continues to be curious about everything that goes on around her, and particularly loves swapping knowledge about the natural world with others. Olivia's family spent many summers camping on the coast of Maine and she cannot wait to live on the Island this summer!  

Bailey Moritz - Scallop Research Intern

Though a proud Seattleite at heart, Bailey is currently a junior studying Earth & Oceanographic Science and Environmental Studies at Bowdoin College in Maine. Last summer she was on campus researching ocean acidification in a clam flat and getting covered in mud. In hopes of improving her Spanish skills, she went abroad on an ecology and marine conservation program in Panama, living with home stay families, researching Caribbean spiny lobster, and eating lots of plantains. Interested in the interaction of society and marine resources, she hopes to pursue fisheries science in the future. After becoming a leader for the Bowdoin Outing Club, she tries to spend most weekends exploring some corner of Maine by foot, canoe, or white water raft. Scuba diving has been her favorite activity since high school and inspired an awe and passion for the underwater world, which she loves to learn more about and share with others. Whenever she has free time, she plays percussion in a Middle Eastern Ensemble and can't pass up a good round of board games. 

Silas Rogers - Sustainability Intern

Silas grew up in the foothills of western Maine, but finds himself at home on Maine’s coast, and on the water. He is currently enrolled at The Apprenticeshop, a school for traditional boatbuilding in Rockland, Maine, for a two-year apprenticeship. There, he is honing his skills as a woodworker, building and restoring wooden boats. 

Silas enjoys activities such as biking, skiing, rowing, and sailing. Another of his favorite pastimes is playing music. He has been part of many music groups over the years, playing a mixture of instruments including fiddle and guitar, and hopes to bring music to the island this summer.

Excited to be a part of the Hurricane Island family, Silas is full of enthusiasm and energy, guided toward understanding and improving the island systems. He is always ready to take on a challenge, especially if it is hands-on. 

Artist-In-Residence Zoe Keller

We were lucky to have Zoe Keller out to Hurricane for two weeks in August for our first ever artist-in-residence program. Zoe worked with us to illustrate two 9x12 pencil drawings featuring the major plants and animals that can be found on Hurricane during June and July. She also created several sketches from her hikes around the island, and gave us some great ideas about how to continue to integrate art and science into our education programs. 

Zoe led morning drawing exercises during our SEAL program to help students warm up the artistic side of their brain. Students enjoyed working with Zoe and embraced the activities, taking time to think critically about how to translate complex and detailed information, like a cluster of wildflowers, onto their paper at the right perspective and scale.

We look forward to welcoming more artists out to Hurricane for short programs, and hope to work with Zoe in the future and use her images to communicate more about Hurricane Island's natural history.

View fullsize

The most noticeable plants and animals in June

View fullsize

Most noticeable in July on Hurricane

First Impressions of Hurricane Island: Alyssa

Post by Alyssa Hall, summer intern.

I consider myself to be pretty environmentally savvy. I religiously recycle, I bring my own bags to the grocery store, I attend my local farmers market as much as I can (probably twice a month or so) and I’m even pursuing my Masters degree in Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As such, I am constantly inundated with the concept of sustainability. So much so that I think I had forgotten what it really meant—that is, until I walked ashore on Hurricane Island. As soon as I arrived, I was instantly reminded that it isn’t just a concept. In fact, with just a little bit of focus, it’s achievable.

When I found out I was hired by the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership in March, I needed some way to try and get my bearings. Having never been to Maine before, I poured over the foundation’s website to learn as much as I could about where I was going to be spending my summer. It was very apparent to me that this community took pride in their sustainability efforts on the island. And as soon as I got here, I knew that was true.

It is amazing for an organization like Hurricane Island to be so excited by the opportunity to be sustainable even in today’s world, which is so focused on practicality. They really have thought of everything. From the multitudes of solar panels and water heaters, composting toilets, constructed wastewater treatment wetlands, Hurricane Island has done everything it can to create a sustainable community. Sustainability has become an inner mantra and is engrained in everything we do here.

My job this summer is to work with this amazing group of people to develop the educational programs that we offer. But really, my job is already done. All that I need to do is show you what this amazing island community is all about and I can guarantee you’ll want come here. No matter what you do this summer, make sure you get here. Come visit with an open mind and an open heart, and it will be an experience to remember. Keep your eyes and ears open, and I’ll see you on the island.

How do our gardens grow?

Post by Josie Gates

It is with great enthusiasm that we are pushing forward with growing more of our own food on Hurricane Island this summer. Along with some in-ground beds and above-ground planters we are testing our green thumb by trying a straw bale garden in an old granite foundation that is close to the galley. The bales are a great above-ground option for growing vegetables and flowers, and you can grow almost anything in them! On Hurricane we are interested in comparing how our food grows in the bales compared to our in ground plots. Here are some things we have learned about straw bale gardens:

Our newly planted straw bale garden! Can you spy the nasturtiums growing out the side of the bales?

To get the straw bales to start decomposing and ready for planting you have to go through a conditioning process. For ten days we conditioned our bales by each day putting about half a cup of fertilizer high in nitrogen on top and then soaking them completely through with water. This process gets the bales to start “cooking,” by breaking down the straw and starting the decomposing process. Once the bales have started to decompose they are a great holder for plants, allowing root systems to grow down into the bale just like they would in soil.

Our garden up in the meadow past the ice pond.

After the bales have been conditioned you can either transplant directly into the bale or plant seeds on top. We have decided to put transplants into our straw bales. To plant transplants we carved out a spot within the soil on top of the bale for the transplant and its roots and covered it with sterile potting soil. We have then watered and cared for them as usual.  So far everything seems to be growing happily, despite some regular raccoon visits...

A special thank you to all of our community members who have donated seeds, seedlings, and flowers to our gardens this year. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

Here’s to a fruitful season of growing food and flowers on Hurricane! 

One Step Closer to Summer

We are excited to have finalized the team out on Hurricane Island for this summer! Chloe and Collin will be joining the rest of the Hurricane Island staff in late June, as our science education and research interns. Both Collin and Chloe will be working on their own independent research project in addition to helping instruct our ISLE and SEAL programs, so stay tuned for updates about their research on our science blog!

Collin Li, University of Miami

Chloe Tremper, University of Vermont

Originally from Flushing, New York, Collin is currently a Junior studying Marine Biology at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida. He found out very quickly that he enjoyed being out in the field more than being locked up in a classroom, leading him to spend a summer working with the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Chelatna Lake, Alaska. But the classroom setting is no stranger to him seeing as he spent another summer working with the Columbia University Summer High School Program as a teacher's assistant for a course on Biological Conservation. Currently, he is working with the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program as a topside and underwater photographer for program participants performing shark tagging procedures. Looking into the future, he hopes to combine his love of the outdoors, passion for education outreach, and interest in capturing moments through the lens into a single occupation. In his pastime, he enjoys reading, playing capoeira, and going on spontaneous adventures.

Chloe was born and raised in Virginia, but has spent the past three years studying Wildlife Biology and Natural Resource Ecology at the University of Vermont.  While at UVM, she has worked as a lab instructor for a natural history and field ecology course and assisted in the development of new learning modules.  She has had a lifelong love for the natural world and enjoys sharing her passion for the outdoors with everyone she meets. Chloe spends most of her free time in Vermont exploring the Champlain Valley and Green Mountains.  While not in Vermont, she can be found tracking jaguars in Belize, studying in Antarctica, researching sylvatic plague in Utah, or landscaping in Virginia.   

The Big Burn

Walt and Jason Day start the pile burning

On Sunday, the 9th of February, 2014, many years of debris that had been appropriately piled along the south end of the island was finally burned!  The debris ran the gamut from endless hours of volunteer trail maintenance to old pallets and cast away material from many of the renovations that have occured as we update our facilities on the island.  The weather was ideal, with light breezes out of the north and snow forecasted overnight.  With the help of Jason, Walt, and Alex Day, Mike Mesko, Owen Williams, Barney, Maddie, and Sam Hallowell, Alice Anderson, Hannah Tannebring, and Ben Hoops the large pile swiftly vanished to expose the magical views from the south end.  It is our hope to use this space to continue establishing vegetable gardens on the island using straw bales as our growing medium.

A view of the blaze from the cliffs above the quarry

The remains of the burn pile show a new vista from Hurricane!

Subscribe to Hurricane Island Updates by Email

11th Annual Vinalhaven Race

Hurricane Island had a strong contingent of athletes at this year's 11th Annual Emergency Services Benefit Challenge. The race is a 2.8 mile run, 9 mile bike that can be completed as a team or solo.  Here are the results:

Mixed 11.8 Mile Run & Bike Total Time

1. Oakley Jackson, M24  Solo Male, 46:032
2. Sam Hollowell & Carson Cornbrooks, M35  Team Male, 46:53
3. John Dietter & Addison Godine, M47  Team Male, 47:48  

Come out and cheer for us next year! July 27, 2014!

Oakley wins! First place male and first place overall.

Vinalhaven 4th of July Parade

Marlin body construction by Oakley, paint by Alice

Hurricane Island staff represented Hurricane Island Foundation in this years 4th of July parade in Vinalhaven. The theme was "Adventure on the High Seas" so we based our float on Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea. Here is our marlin!