Hello! My name is Holly Keating. I am one of the St Marks National Wildlife Refuge interns for the fall of 2021. I’m from the Cleveland area and have always enjoyed wildlife and being outside. When I was 13 I started volunteering in the Cleveland Metroparks at one of their nature centers, which only strengthened my passion for science and conservation.

So it wasn’t a huge surprise for anyone that I majored in Environmental Science and Zoology and minored in Botany at Ohio Wesleyan University. As a freshman and sophomore there I planned events for the Environment and Wildlife Club and once I was elected to the Zoology Board junior year, I was able to plan even better events and charity fundraisers. Running the board as Chair my senior year is something I am extremely proud of, especially since we managed to accomplish so much despite COVID restrictions. Ohio Wesleyan was also a great learning environment not only in the classroom, but also in the various jobs and internships I was able to get on campus. I had an animal care and behavioral observation internship with one professor who studies sexual selection in sailfin mollies, and another internship the summer of 2020 with my academic adviser. Due to COVID the internship was remote, but the independent research project I completed using citizen science data was still quite interesting and its results are now being published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology!

I’ve tried to be active outside of campus as well, starting with positions in the summer of 2018. I had volunteer internships at wildlife rehabilitation centers Lake Erie Nature and the Medina Raptor Center where I learned valuable skills including handling, restraining, banding, medicating, and rescuing wildlife of all kinds. I also collected observational data on animals at the Cleveland Zoo for graduate students studying those species. In 2019 I was able to complete a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) internship at North Dakota State University in the Heidinger lab. This position allowed me to work with graduate students on their projects, the research on house sparrow nestlings being done by the lab itself, and a research project of my own design. Here I also learned how much I enjoy field work! I’m grateful for all the positions and experiences I’ve been able to complete, both on and outside campus. I feel that each one has helped me discover more about what I enjoy doing and what opportunities are out there for me.

Now, I’m excited to be working at St Marks this fall! I’m especially excited that our focus is on the endangered Frosted Flatwood Salamander as I haven’t had the opportunity to really work with amphibians despite my interest in their conservation needs. I am also just thrilled to be in Florida, where the environment is so different from my corn-saturated home of Ohio. I’m already interested in the diverse ecosystems that the mix of freshwater and saltwater bodies of water provide, and hope to explore them in my downtime. I know this internship will provide key skills and experience for future positions and will help me make decisions regarding graduate school and my future career. Thank you for helping me be here!