The following guest post was written by Karen, about her internship experience with us this summer.
Last year, 2020, affected everyone on some level. Mine was the termination of 19 years in visual retail management. I took the rest of the year to decide my next chapter, which took me to Houston Community College to obtain a second degree in Horticulture. During my first semester, the Yellowstone Landscape Internship opportunity became available to students. I attended the “meet and greet” zoom call and at the end was interested in the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge. As the summer approached, my anxiety and fears were overwhelming. My thoughts being, can a 44-year-old intern do this, will they accept me, am I doing the right thing for myself? After six weeks, the answer is YES to all my doubts! Not only has it been educational, but I have received continuous encouragement to find my role in this industry.
My first six weeks have been under the direction of Bob Jaynes at the SW Houston Branch in the Arbor Division. I could not have asked for a better Mentor for my first experience at Yellowstone. He is a passionate man for business, but also for the care of trees. This is evident in his Business Developers and his Crew Leaders as well. They love what they do, and it shows!
Knowing my limited knowledge, Bob requested a research summary about topics that were practiced in the field each week. He was emphasizing, “hands on” you learn how to do it but understanding why you are doing it is just as important. This has helped me so much to retain the information. I have sprayed oaks for ball moss, fertilized trees at the Houston Zoo and a historic ranch in Sugarland, and observed several different teams remove large pines and elms damaged from the winter storm. My knowledge has strengthened in fertilization, pruning, tree identification, tree removal, compartmentalization, tree care on construction sites, and the importance of mycorrhizal fungi.
My favorite experience has been watching the crews remove trees around the city. Witnessing their methodical and skillful execution is like watching a ballet. Many decades ago, I was once an athlete. The skill is to always make “difficult” look easy to the observer allowing them to think, “I can do that too”! Watching the tree team pulling themselves from ground level into the canopy or walking a limb like a tightrope walker they did just that. Well, I did try to lift myself into a tree for the experience and got 3 feet off the ground. It is way harder than it looks! Strength, confidence, and trust in your teammates is essential. If you have not watched a tree crew work, I highly recommend observing one sooner than later. Not only are they concerned with each other’s safety, but the safety of the surrounding trees and property. They really do care!
I am proud of myself for choosing to follow thru with this internship. I am thankful to be supported by the employees at this location, under Bob’s leadership, and to Lisa Hall for initially giving me this opportunity. With their guidance, patience, humor and confidence I have found my second wind regaining confidence in myself. Realizing age is just a number, it does not define my ability to do a job or be a part of a winning team!