August 09, 2021| People
By: Gwen Lam
Hello everyone,
I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I’m Gwen, and I spent the summer as an intern at the Foundation. You might have heard my voice answering the phone, seen me aboard the Floating Classroom, or met me at the gala’s check-in station.
Even though it has only been three months at the Foundation, it feels so long ago when my welcome post went out and everyone seemed to know me before I knew them! I used to introduce myself, and everyone would go, “Ah, yes. You go to Swarthmore!” or “Oh, so you like watching birds? Do you know this one?” and then I’d listen to an enthusiastic description of a bird I didn’t know.
Starting out, I wasn’t too sure what to expect from my first internship. My imagination oscillated between Anne Hathaway running through the streets of New York City with dry cleaning and seven lattes and students presenting alongside professors at global conferences. Suffice to say, this internship was nothing like that.
On my first day, I was given a chipper tour of the beautiful Lake Hopatcong train station. I had no idea how much history was packed into one station, never mind the area around the lake. In the next few weeks of my internship, I compiled the entire lake’s dock number coverage into a map, processed many generous membership forms, and happily met many of you from around the lake. Through the next few months, I led some Floating Classroom cruises, mailed dock numbers out, created an obscene amount of Excel sheets, and met even more of you at the gala! (Oh, the gala was so much fun!)
As excited as I am to head back to campus and classes, I will be parting with the Foundation with a heavy heart. The Lake Hopatcong community is truly a warm group of individuals willing to do what is necessary to make the environment better. Each day, people came into the office with energetic enthusiasm to participate in programs, learn about the station’s history, inquire about lake ecology, or volunteer to help with the workload. It was inspiring to see so many different people wanting and willing to make a difference.
Thank you all for welcoming me and treating me like I have lived on the lake all my life. I appreciate everyone’s kindness, especially when I asked you to repeat phone numbers for the seventh time.
A bittersweet goodbye for now. I will be back for fall break and hope to see you all at Lake Loop!
Warmly,
Gwen
