Jose Melendez and Christina Bermudez, Environmental Defense

As many people know, Environmental Defense is the nation's largest environmental protection nonprofit. The New York City office is the brain center of the organization and it occupies four green-designed floors of an office building on Madison Ave near Union Square. Environmental Defense hosts many high school interns in their various departments, not only those from NYHS but from other city high schools. HR Manager Maxine Adams has provided us many placements for our students and has been extremely patient with the occasional instances of miscommunication on the part of the first semester NYHS interns. Currently, Jose and Christina are restoring the reputation of the NYHS internship program by setting excellent examples of competency, consistency, and clear communication.

Jose is splitting his time between the facilities department and the Climate and Air program. This means that he has a diverse array of work options. On a typical day, he first meets with facilities manager Tim to complete any number of jobs relating to the physical plant. This might include, unloading office materials, managing the floor's HVAC systems, or setting up video conferencing for ED offices around the country. After the hands-on jobs are complete, Jose usually heads over to meet with his mentor Diahn in the Climate and Air department. When I met her on Tuesday, Diahn was quick to mention to me that Jose is one of the most reliable and competent interns she has ever had, high school and college included. She described Jose's mature (for his years) professional demeanor and his ability to handle himself confidently in the midst of new and challenging situations. Diahn was especially impressed with his ability to make phone calls and gather data from other professionals in the field. In addition, Jose occasionally works on the departments website and databases. In general, Diahn and Tim are both happy to have him and Jose enjoys the balanced work load.

Christina has been interning in ED's IT Department under her mentor Ian. She seems happy to be there and her mentor appreciates the work she is contributing. Her main project in the coming month will consist of imaging and installing system software on over 30 new desktop computers. She is definitely gaining some valuable transferable skills in the technology arena; however, Christina is also being encouraged to branch out to other departments in the organization, in which she'll get more direct exposure to the fields of environmental advocacy.