It’s not quite a summer vacation for Guisel Marmolejo, as she is spending her summer days in a lab or searching area streams for water samples.
Marmolejo, 24, is one of 31 college students to be accepted as interns at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. More than 150 students from 96 schools in 34 states and two countries applied for the internships. They began with a week of training and lectures before they dove into their projects this month.
Among them is Marmolejo, a graduate of Lewis & Clark Community College and current student at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. She is majoring in geography with a minor in geographic information systems, which she said has taught her the importance of spatial patterns, human behavior, cultural backgrounds and understanding the world.
But Marmolejo has another job: she serves in the Army National Guard, joining shortly after graduating from high school in Houston, Texas. As a flight operations specialist, Marmolejo tracks pilots’ flight hours and records and keeps track of the aircraft.
“If they go out on a flight, I make sure we know where they are at all times,” she said. “I track them through GPS and keep in touch with them to make sure everything’s okay.”
Marmolejo was deployed in 2013 to early 2014 in Kuwait and has received a number of commendations, including the Global War on Terrorism Service and Expeditionary medals. After returning, she finished her associate’s degree at Lewis & Clark, where she made the dean’s list.
“I believe having a military background has given me a better understanding of information assurance, adaptability, creative thinking and situational awareness,” she said. She then enrolled at SIUE to study geography and geographic informational systems and is currently taking summer classes as well as interning at the research station.
The internship was quite competitive, according to Natalie Marioni, the center’s director of environmental education and citizen science. “Not only did we receive an impressive 151 student applications, but these were high-quality applicants, making it difficult for our selection committee to narrow it down to only the 31 students needed to fill this year’s available projects,” Marioni said.
