Braden Glover ’18 is exploring whether a career connected to the environment might be right for him through his summer internship at the Fells, a private non-profit on the shores of Lake Sunapee in Newbury, N.H. It’s located at the summer home of U.S. diplomat and statesman John Milton Hay, who served as a private secretary for President Lincoln and as Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt.
Glover’s internship is supported by the Richard & Patsy Couper Fund, managed by the Career Center.
The Fells organization works to preserve the Hay family’s historic gardens, the main house and other buildings that are still standing from the estate. It also works closely with U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests to conserve and protect the nearly 900 acres of forest land that once were part of the Hay estate.
“My main intent in this internship is to see if I would enjoy working in an environmental occupation. The Fells maintains its own preservation efforts, works with state officials and land trusts, and with the federal government,” Glover explained. ”So this internship puts me in a unique situation to get a feel for this sort of work.”
Glover works in the education department, which is charged with providing information about the storied Hay family and their summer home and promoting environmental education and conservation of the natural world.
As part of his internship Glover gives guided tours of the house, explaining the accomplishments of the three generations of Hays who summered there and the historical significance of the rooms and hallways. He also leads tours through the nationally renowned gardens on the property .
For the environmental education portion of his internship, Glover worked with education director Pat Baldissard to research and design the Ecology Room for The Fells. Located in the main house, the Ecology Room is a space dedicated to educating children about the ecosystems and conservation efforts at The Fells and in the Lake Sunapee Watershed. Exhibits range from water purity in the lake and its tributaries to protecting the local species of bats.
Glover is also undertaking an individual research project for The Fells. It’s a deeper look into the ecology of, natural resources in, and natural services provided by the Lake Sunapee Watershed and how failing to protect the environment there would negatively impact the region economically. Although he is an economics and mathematics concentrator, Glover said “the environment, and particularly environmental protection and moving society in a ‘green’ direction, is a major interest of mine.”
The rising junior has found many benefits to his internship. “Besides the obvious attraction of living and working on one of New Hampshire’s largest lakes, the environmentalist message propagated by The Fells is what really sold me on this internship,” he explained.
“I really enjoy being able to interact with the people and members who visit The Fells. Getting to be a part of an organization that is working so hard to preserve the historical house as well as to conserve the land around it is really something special,” said Glover.
Glover is not yet sure of his future career path. “I know that I would like to work in environmental protection of some sort, which could mean working in a government bureaucracy or in a private firm,” he concluded.
