A Message From Our Summer Interns

Hello everybody!

My name is Sean, and this summer I’ve had the great privilege of working as the Education and Outreach intern for Arundel Rivers Federation. I’m a rising sophomore at Johns Hopkins studying environmental engineering, and I entered the summer excited to learn more about how environmental science is used and taught in practice. Even though I live in Columbia MD, over the past 3 months I’ve gotten to know the South, West, and Rhode rivers as if they were my home. 

For most of the summer, I’ve been helping Mairin (my amazing supervisor) with educational programming at various youth summer camps, most prominently YMCA Camp Letts. With the goal of teaching campers about our watershed and its inhabitants, we’ve had them observe models of our watershed, learn about fish adaptations through seine netting, plant native shoreline grasses, build oyster barges, and partake in no shortage of river themed games!

One of the things I’ve loved the most about Arundel Rivers is the variety of different experiences I’ve had. Whether joining Elle, Riley, and Sydney on the boat for water quality monitoring, visiting restoration sites with Lily and Jennifer, harvesting SAV with my fellow intern Tommy, or hiking through the forest to collect a bacteria sample, no two days have looked the same. However, the best thing about Arundel Rivers (and I’m sure others would agree) is the people. Everyone at Arundel Rivers is so kind, hardworking, and passionate about what they do, and it’s been an absolute pleasure to get to know and learn from everybody. 

After everything I’ve experienced this summer, I’d say that environmental work is no walk in the park. It often takes an enormous amount of effort to connect with an audience, or to fund and support a restoration project, or to go out into the field week after week to collect data; an amount of effort that is necessary for the sake of our waterways yet not always appreciated. But the small victories - when a camper is genuinely curious about a lesson topic, when you see community members relaxing on a recently restored living shoreline, or when someone mentions that they check the bacteria results every week before their kids go swimming - they make all of the effort worth everything. 

Thank you, Arundel Rivers, for an amazing summer!

- Sean Moore

Hello to friends of Arundel Rivers!

My name is Tommy Westbrook, and I had the amazing opportunity to work with Arundel Rivers Federation as the Water Quality Monitoring Summer Intern for 2025. I am from Pasadena, MD, and a rising senior at the University of Oregon studying Environmental Design with a minor in Planning, Public Policy, and Management.

This summer, I learned so much about the South, West, and Rhode rivers and saw firsthand how the greater Chesapeake Bay impacts our local environment. My weeks were packed with variety, whether I was out on the water or entering data into spreadsheets, there was never a dull moment. Each week, I joined our Riverkeeper, Elle Bassett, to record water quality data like dissolved oxygen, pH, and clarity. This data helps us gain a deeper understanding of the health of our watersheds. Being on the Chesapeake every week was not only a great excuse to get some sun, but it also gave me a much deeper appreciation for just how many factors shape the health of our rivers.

One of the most fun and eye-opening parts of my summer was joining the team to harvest, process, and restore submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). These underwater grasses are the unsung heroes of the Bay, absorb nutrient pollution, providing habitat, and preventing erosion. Three times this summer, our crew, along with the Department of Natural Resources and other volunteers from ShoreRivers and AACC, sustainably harvested baskets and baskets of fresh grasses from SAV beds around the Bay. I will never forget one day on the Severn River near Brewer Point. The area was covered with dense Sago Pondweed, and the water was so clear that I could see my feet in waist-deep water, something that almost never happens on these rivers. It felt like a different world compared to the murkier water we sometimes see, and it was living proof of just how powerful SAV can be in restoring clarity and health to our waters, even in small areas like this. 

I am so thankful to everyone at Arundel Rivers for welcoming me in this summer and letting me be part of their mission. This experience did not just give me new skills; it gave me a new way of looking at the waters I grew up around. I am heading back to school more inspired than ever to keep working for healthy rivers, and I am grateful to be part of such a dedicated community of people who care deeply about the Chesapeake Bay.

See you out on the water!

Tommy Westbrook