SoundWaters, the environmental education organization based in Stamford welcomed two Rye High School seniors at its spring internship program. For five weeks, Oliver Meier and Modi Blinoff worked at the organization’s Coastal Education Center at Cove Island Park. The pair was part of a larger group from several area high schools who, instead of attending classes for the final weeks of their high school careers, chose to experience a real-world work environment. 

Founded in 1989, SoundWaters is devoted to the protection of Long Island Sound and its watershed by means of access and education for the surrounding community. 

The interns worked alongside and under the guidance of professional educators, teaching the science of Long Island Sound to pre-school, elementary, and middle school students from across the region. They helped students in a classroom and lab setting, but also on the beach and in boats on Holly Pond where their young students did their field work. 

“SoundWaters is an amazing nonprofit organization, and I was fortunate to have this internship. I helped kids understand the importance of protecting the environment — and got to spend most of the time waterside!” said Blinoff, who will be attending Villanova University this fall.

– Photos by Mike Bagley/SoundWaters