CLEVELAND — Ohio native and current Princeton student Elise Taylor is spending part of her summer helping the Port of Cleveland.
“Twice a year Lake Erie gets dredged by the Port of Cleveland, and that material gets deposited into the facility,” Taylor said.
As part of her internship with Baldwin-Wallace University, she’s helping build and deploy turbidity sensors that can be used in that facility.
These sensors will provide staff with real-time data about how many particles are in the water they’re releasing back into Lake Erie.
It’s allowing her to practice some of what she’s learned as a civil and environmental engineering student.
“Everyone deserves access to clean water, so it’s really important to me,” Taylor said.
Taylor is looking to work in water quality when she graduates and is getting her feet wet with this internship that allows her to meet and study with people currently working in the field.
“Seeing all of these organizations being able to collaborate and make small changes in our area makes me really optimistic about the future,” Taylor said.
Cuyahoga County’s Fresh Water Institute and the Student Conservation Association help pair students with local organizations that complete work related to Ohio’s waterways. Giving the next generation of environmental scientists hands-on experience.
“One of my AP research projects in high school was actually about the Cuyahoga River fire in 1969 and how these grassroots movements kind of built up the momentum to get the Clean Water Act of 1970,” said Samantha Holtz.
Ohio’s history and connection to the Great Lakes is part of what made the Harvard student interested in environmental science.
Back home for the summer, she’s now interning with the Ohio Sea Grant where she helps educate people about our freshwater environment.
“One parting message that I always leave with my outreach events is: your actions matter. What you do on the land matters, what you do on the waters matter. You have more impact than you think.”
With uncertainty around our environment brought on by development, extraction industries and climate change, Holtz says one of the best lessons she’s learned is that positive change can start out with the conviction of just a few people.
“Interacting with people and finding that spark within them to kind of go into conservation and go into stewardship is really beautiful, because I know that has a domino effect down the line with our communities,” Holtz said.
The next generation of scientists, learning from their surroundings right here in Ohio.
“If we can make small changes where we’re from and really meet people and share ideas about the environment, we can move in the right direction,” Taylor said.