MAY 24, 2002
SUMMER INTERNS CHOSEN FOR CABLE NATURAL HISTORY FLIP PROGRAM

Twelve regional high-school students have been chosen to participate in this year’s Forest Lab Intern Program at the Cable Natural History Museum.

Now in its fifth year, the FLIP program will provide an opportunity for these students to spend nine weeks this summer practicing hands-on science in the field, in the lab and in the classroom.

The interns will travel to research sites, investigate real-world mysteries, meet professional scientists, and develop research-oriented field trips to take back to their high schools in the fall. The FLIP interns also will write articles and produce stories for radio broadcast about their summer science experiences.

This year’s FLIP interns are: Adam Airoldi, Jennifer Lipka, and Kelly Grahek from Ashland High School; Jake Cogger, Carrie Durward, and Monica Shilman from Washburn High School; Megan Draheim and Dale Nelson, Jr. from South Shore High School; Marissa Kaiser and Anna Lang from Drummond High School; Zoe Brown from Bayfield High School; and Karissa Swenson from Hayward High School.

The twelve interns were chosen from among 46 applicants from around the region.

The program will be coordinated by Museum Naturalist Brad Gingras. This year FLIP also will employ Annika Swenson as Education Assistant. A 2001 Hayward High School graduate, Annika was a FLIP intern in the summer of 2000. She is currently enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Biocore Honors Program, an interdisciplinary program that prepares undergraduates for further work in biologically-oriented fields of study.

In her role with the FLIP program this summer, Annika will help design and coordinate a summer-long field experiment, assist interns in their individual and group projects, and research and write materials for a grade-school science curriculum.

FLIP is funded in part by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Initiative.