Hello everyone-
I’m Anna Smith. I’m a senior from Atlanta, GA majoring in Environmental Studies. This semester I had the opportunity to intern at Quible & Associates, a private environmental consulting and engineering firm. My mentor was Brian Rubino, the Vice President of Quible and a professionally licensed geologist.
Going into the internship with Quible, I had no idea what to expect, which from my perspective was kind of the point. All I knew was that I wanted a dynamic internship which would provide me with interdisciplinary opportunitiesto learn. Upon my first meeting with Brian, he too wanted me to have as expansive a learning experience as possible and proposed that instead of working on one main project, I would be involved in many different ones. As a result, my time was balanced between working at the office in Powell’s Point and out in the field across the Outer and Inner Banks.
Yours truly
Quible & Associates, Private Consulting
Fieldwork:
Standing neck deep in turbid water on my first day, I distinctly remember thinking two things: 1) how in the world did I end up in this situation and 2) this is awesome. Beyond being told that I would be in waist-high (give or take) water, I did not know what I would be doing or where. As someone who tries to be organized, the lack of information initially made me nervous. But after my first day, I knew that I could trust Brian and that he would not put me in a poor position. Unlike most every other member of the cohort, I rarely knew far in advance what I’d be doing, where I would be going or with whom, or for how long. I share this element of my internship not as a complaint, but to reveal how this taught me to always be prepared for anything with Quible. I always kept a set of warm weather and cold weather field clothes in my car in addition to snacks, sunscreen, and anything else I might need.
Checking out a breakwater in Belhaven NC with Brian + Troy
Additionally, this internship revealed the power of simply showing up and fully committing to the task at hand regardless of the situation. Whether it was surveying the eroding shoreline in Swanquarter or delineating wetlands in Corolla or taking annual well samples in Merry Hill, Brian allowed me to jump right into whatever fieldwork was being done. Each day in the field was an adventure where I not only got to observe the fieldwork, but also learn on the fly by doing.
Surveying water depths at an eroding shoreline in Swanquarter, NC
Office work:
Similar to how I learned by doing in the field, I was also thrown into various office projects.To clarify, I was never sent off to work without any help. More or less, I was given some general information and resources by someone at Quible then told to give whatever task at hand a shot on my own. If I had any questions or confusion, everyone’s door was open for me to get their help. Once I felt like I had completed the work, I’d place the document in the Quible shared drive for the project manager to look over and provide feedback as needed. It was very collaborative which I appreciated, yet they also never coddled me and let me problem solve on my own which made me a better student and learner overall.
Well sampling data to be analyzed for annual DEQ report
Examples of office-related projects were filling out CAMA major/minor permits to send to the NC DEQ; stormwater drainage basin inspection permits; using county GIS data to notify adjacent landowners of CAMA projects; and using wetland delineation field notes to fill out data sheets related to the soil, hydrology, and vegetation of an area.
Elevation map for shoreline protection proposal by Quible
Engineering plans used to complete stormwater inspection report
All in all, I walk away from my time at Quible with lots of fun memories from adventures and extensive new knowledge learned. As I mentioned at the beginning, I never knew what to anticipate with my internship, but my primary goal of learning was achieved above and beyond anything I could have imagined.
Thank you to everyone at Quible for welcoming me into the firm and being willing to teach me within and beyond the scope of work. Thank you to Brian in particular for mentoring me this semester and being willing to indulge my curiosity. Lastly, thank you to Linda and Lindsay for helping arrange this opportunity along with the entire field site program.