Greetings from Paris! This past week began with internships as usual. I’ve been interning at the Dare County District Attorney’s office doing legal research for one of the Assistant District Attorneys there. Through my internship, I’ve improved upon my ability to gather case evidence and I’ve been able to sit in on court proceedings and learn the ways in which our justice system handles trials. I knew I was interested in law but it became even more interesting when I realized that sitting in court is like being in an episode of Judge Judy! I have been thoroughly enjoying my internship.
Tuesday was Halloween and nearly all of us very festively executed costumes. Among us that day was Scooby and the gang, Rosie the Riveter, Spooky Danielle and He-Man.
During Capstone class we continued with the process of conducting interviews, transcribing them and coding them. We have been writing our research paper in sections (introduction, methods, etc) and on Tuesday we reviewed feedback from our professors on one of those sections. We further divvied up editorial roles for polishing the final version of the paper. Lastly, we developed a weekly schedule for the 13 of us to analyze the many samples of aboveground biomass, below-ground biomass, and methane gas that we’ve collected from the field.
Wednesday was another internship day. Thursday was Kurt’s 22nd birthday, he was given two tiers of homemade carrot cake cupcakes from his classmates and homemade chocolate chip, toffee and cherry cookies from Lindsay, among other gifts.
Friday we got out of the classroom for our lesson on ecology. We visited the Wanchese Seafood Industrial Park and learned about the type of gear fishermen use to fish, crab and shrimp in the sound and ocean and the devices they are required to have on their nets to decrease by-catch. We then visited the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge to learn about how the Nature Conservancy has adaptively managed rainwater accumulation, saltwater intrusion and naturally-occurring fires on those lands over the years.
This weekend, Danielle ran the New York City Marathon. We all gave her lots of e
ncouragement and music suggestions for entertainment during her 26.1 mile journey. India even dressed up as her for Halloween. Be sure to congratulate Danielle when you see her around!
Next week we’ll be traveling to Ocracoke for more experiential learning so stay tuned!