Alumni Fellowship

The Bennion Center/Alumni Fellowship. This was one of the best experiences of my entire life. 

I got to choose where to go, anywhere I wanted and I chose Arcata, California. I got my inspiration to go here from two things: 

1. Alternative Spring Break

2. My friend who lived there for a while said, "I think you would like it here."

After these two events occurred, I researched more into the city and the organization, Friends of the Dunes. 

After the application and interview, I was excited to hear that I was being offered the fellowship, I began prepping to move for the summer.

Due to a family emergency, I had to leave just a few days after school ended and head to the Sacramento Valley, where I spent about a week. From there, I headed up to Arcata. I had previously made housing arrangements through Craigslist, Skyping them to make sure they wanted to live with me and I with them. So when I arrived, I kind of knew what to expect, but I was still extremely nervous. My new roommates greeted me with warm, open hearts.

A couple days later, I started my new position. Everyone at Friend of the Dunes was so thankful I was there and I was so thankful to be there. I worked Tuesday-Saturday, usually 40-45 hours a week. I did everything from entering contact lists to planning events to restoration. On one of the first days I was there, we had to close the nature center because of a downed cable line, but thankfully a co-worker and I found a great alternative thing to do that day, we saw the Kinetic Sculpture Race, which included gems like this:  

I helped plan Ocean Day, this is where 900+ elementary school kids came out and did restoration for half the day, did a beach clean up, then were assembled to get into formation that looked like a squid from a bird's-eye view.  

Another thing I got to do was lead weekly restoration projects, where a group of people from the community would come in and help remove invasive species for a few hours a day. It was so great to go out and do this with people who knew how important it is to keep our dunes free of invasives and were willing to commit to our environment.

Yet another exciting day in the life of my summer, I got to help save a sea bird that was tangled in fishing line with a buoy stuck in its breast.

I loved my job so much, being out in nature every single day was amazing, I could not have asked for anything more. I learned so many things this summer and was adopted into a loving new culture and was embraced by the redwood forest around me.

There is no way to fully express my experience with Friends of the Dunes, but I urge you to apply for this Fellowship because it changed my life and it may change yours as well!

More information and application available online.

P.S. I got to lick this slug, too.

-Allison Weichmann