Student Opportunities
The Center for Environment & Society creates meaningful opportunities that provide graduate level and real world, hands on experiences to our students.
2024 Fall CES Student Scholarship & Travel Award COMING SOON!
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CES Internships
The Center for Environment & Society creates meaningful internship experiences and job opportunities for Washington College undergraduates. These opportunities provide graduate level and real world, hands on, experiences to students.
In the past, CES has offered internships for students interested in campus sustainability, climate action, coastal ecosystems, conservation, ecology, and archaeology. Some of the regular and ongoing CES positions include:
- Bird Banding Intern at the Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory
- Watershed Innovation Lab Intern
- River and Field Campus Intern
- Grasslands Summer Research Intern
- Natural Lands Project Intern
- Communication Support Intern
- CES Program Support Intern
- MuSE Communication and Education Intern
Full descriptions of fall 2024 internships coming soon.
Partnership Internships
CES strives to collaborate with other organizations to provide a wide range of internships across a wide range of disciplines. In the past, CES has collaborated with Echo Hill Outdoor School, Horn Point Laboratories, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, ShoreRivers, Sultana Projects, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, National Aquarium, and Friends of Eastern Neck
External Partnership Internships for Fall 2024 include:
- ShoreRivers
- Musuems of Kent
- Friends of Eastern Neck NWR
- Kent County Food Council
- Chestertown Environmental Committee
- Kiplin Hall
- Stories of the Chesapeake
Full descriptions of fall 2024 internships coming soon.
Freshman Orientation Explore!
Just confirmed your acceptance to Washington College? The college has some great explore orientation opportunities for incoming freshman. Why not learn more about the Center for Environment & Society by participating in one of our awesome trips?
To learn which trips are led by CES staff, please contact us at environment_societyFREEwashcoll
Chesapeake Semester
Through the Chesapeake Semester, CES provides students with hands on opportunities and vast networking that sets them up for successful internships and careers. The Chesapeake Semester engages a select group of 12 students in a 16 credit interdisciplinary study of North America's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay. Participants study the complex history, ecology, and culture of the Chesapeake as a microcosm of the challenges and transitions confronting coastal communities around the world.
Scholarships & Fellowships
Environment & Society Fellows
Each year, the Center for Environment & Society offers select admitted students the opportunity to apply to the Environment & Society Fellows program prior to enrollment. These students must demonstrate a commitment to their academics as well as an interest in the world's diverse environments and the people that live in them.
Benefits of the Environment & Society Fellows program include:
- Renewable yearly scholarship of $3,000
- Priority consideration for CES-sponsored internships
- Priority consideration for Chesapeake Semester program, which gets our students out of the classroom and onto the Chesapeake Bay for a full semester of fieldwork
- Professional development opportunities including speakers, workshops, and service learning.
- Fun social activities like kayaking, birding, camping, and pizza nights.
In the spring semester of each academic year, currently enrolled students will have the opportunity to apply to become E&S Fellows. While the scholarship is not available to these students, all other benefits of being an E&S Fellow are open and available to students who apply in the spring.
Ornithology Scholarship
Admitted students who have experiences as a birder, wildlife enthusiast, or conservationist are encouraged to apply for the Ornithology Scholarship. Students who receive the Ornithology Scholarship will be included in all CES Fellows opportunities including priority application consideration for CES internships and the Chesapeake Semester program.
A $1,500 tuition scholarship will be offered to three students, renewable annually for four years.
Eastern Shore Society Scholarship
Admitted students from Maryland's Eastern Shore or of Eastern Shore heritage who are interested in a major in environmental science or studies are encouraged to apply for the Eastern Shore Society Scholarship. Students who receive the Eastern Shore Scholarship will be included in all CES Fellows opportunities including priority application consideration for CES internships and the Chesapeake Semester program.
A $3,000 tuition scholarship will be offered to three students, renewable annually for four years. Additionally, the chosen scholarship recipient will receive a one-time grant of $2,000 to offset the cost of the Chesapeake Semester.
Student Scholarship & Travel Awards
The Center for Environment and Society (CES) is offering student awards to fund independent learning experiences that foster innovative approaches to understanding human-environment interactions and seek to find sustainable solutions to environmental problems.
The awards will support the following:
- Scholarship in the form of research, creative endeavors, or projects.
- Travel to present completed work or to attend networking events.
Funding is available to all majors and class years and must be used to fund projects that are independent of required coursework. CES will fund a maximum of $1,000 per proposal. All proposals must be supported by a faculty or staff member at the college and require a statement of support with a limit of 2 projects per advisor.
For more information, please the application can be found here. Project submissions are due February 28.
Please reach out to CES Deputy Director Beth Choate (bchoate2FREEwashcoll) if you have any questions about the fund.
High School Conferences
Young Environmental Stewards' Conference
The Young Environmental Stewards' Conference is designed to introduce you to the magic of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Led by staff at the Center for Environment & Society (CES), this four-day conference includes kayaking, wildlife habitat conservation efforts, underwater exploration and more – all while living on our beautiful campus! The Chester River is a tributary of our beloved Chesapeake Bay and is one of Chestertown's most important resources. At the Young Environmental Stewards' Conference, you'll have the opportunity to get on the Chester River and explore the unique local environment with other like-minded students.
Avian Conservation and Ecology Program
Have you wondered what that red bird is in your yard? Do you know the birds at your feeders, but want to learn more about them? Do you wonder if you're the only teen around who likes nature? We have just the program for you. Washington College's Center for Environment & Society is pleased to announce the Avian Conservation and Ecology Summer Program for 2022. You will join a group of rising 10th-12th graders to explore regional habitats from marshes to grasslands to forests. We will discover the birds that call these habitats home, consider the threats to each ecosystem, and discuss with biologists and professional researchers how to best conserve them. Our guest lecturers will also discuss career options relating to birds and wildlife.
The Geospatial Discoveries Conference is an interactive and dynamic in-person experience with a wide range of out-of-the-box activities and technology used to explore the world. Led by staff at the Washington College Geospatial Innovation Program, this four- day conference gives participants a practical introduction to the systems that connect satellites, drones, data analysts, mobile apps, and websites in modern life. Take part in a college classroom experience and participate in experiential learning activities designed to take you outdoors. Faculty and staff will guide lessons on imagery and how drones and satellites take those concepts in different dimensions. Experience the power of remote sensing through a presentation of a 46-foot research vessel and see how sunk shipwrecks can be detected even when completely buried in mud. Learn to create your own spatial data using mobile applications. Build out your experience using cutting-edge data visualization tools to embed maps, applications and multimedia data into an online story! You will see GIS technology used in environmental research, historical and cultural discoveries, crime analysis and mapping. Spend time in our GIP Lab working beside our undergraduate interns and see them put their skills in action to tackle real world problems. Discover the adventure of geospatial technologies at work outdoors, in the classroom, and in your life!
Virtual Young Environmental Stewards Converence
The 3rd Annual Young Environmental Stewards Conference: Virtual Edition will challenge you to discover the place you call home: "who" shares the outdoor space with you, how eco-healthy is your "neighborhood", what can you do to become an #environmentalinfluencer?
Spend the week exploring the connections between you and your place. Each morning session will prepare you for an outdoor connection. You will still have an opportunity to "get in the field" with this conference, but instead of exploring George Washington's backyard and the Chester River, you'll explore your own! This experience will take you beyond your computer screen and into your neighborhood to practice data collection, observe local trees and birds, explore the concept of environmental justice, and put stewardship into action.
How will you do all this? Included in the $250.00 cost of the conference, you will receive a materials kit and a journal to facilitate your experience a few weeks before the conference begins.
Grasslands Research
Hannah McCarthy '23, Environmental Studies major, was one of three students who studied the breeding biology of Field Sparrows in the experimental grasslands at the River and Field Campus this past summer. These students are investigating whether older more experienced sparrows make “better” parents than first time breeders. Summer field experiences like these allow students to collect actual data used for scientific analysis, building skills that will serve them well should they pursue a career in field biology.
Migration Monitoring
Sara Canas ’23, a double major in Biology and Environmental Science, is a part of the Eirik A. T. Blom Internship program, in which student interns assist in monitoring spring and fall migrations at WC's Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory (FBBO). There, students learn to identify and handle wild birds under the guidance of federally-licensed staff, untangling birds from mist nets, measuring birds, and recording data. Interns gain insight into the uses of bird banding data, which is collected for use not only at FBBO, but also at USGS' Bird Banding Laboratory, where the data is made available to all researchers.
LEARN ABOUT THE EIRIK A. T. BLOM INTERNSHIP
Bird-Safe Glass Testing
Libby Witham ’23, a double major in Biology and Environmental Science, interns with CES' Bird-Safe Glass Testing Program. In partnership with American Bird Conservancy, WC runs an official test site for the American Bird Conservancy, hosting one of only two tunnels designed to approve products that will reduce glass collisions, a leading cause of bird death worldwide. In just the first season, the College ran over 2,500 test flights and sent critical data back to ABC that helped gain approval for 10 new bird-friendly glass designs, which are in use by manufacturers in the U.S. and around the world.