Welcome Interns

Ryan Strand is our Restoration, Education and Public Outreach Intern.

If you get a call about an important public meeting, or attend an restoration, education or paddling event, chances are you'll meet one of the new FMR interns: Ryan Strand and Joanna Lau. FMR is proud to have these two industrious and bright students spend their summer with us.

Ryan Strand is our Restoration, Education and Public Outreach Intern. From making phone calls to posting opportunities on various online calendars, he has already been a great help getting word out about FMR's involvement opportunities. He's also been eager to get his hands dirty — assisting with native plantings as well as tending and weeding events along the Mighty Mississippi.

Ryan is pursuing a cross-departmental degree — Global Studies: Environmental Development / Latin American Focus; Sustainability Studies, Chicano Studies — and plans to graduate from the University of Minnesota in 2010. He also recently returned from a Greenpeace immersion internship program in San Francisco, but says he is very much enjoying his return to Minnesota, especially getting to know about our local watershed and helping to protect the special places within it.

Joanna Lau is our Mississippi River Challenge Communications Intern.

Joanna Lau, FMR's new Mississippi River Challenge Communications Intern, is an Environmental Science Policy & Management major at the University of MN. Joanna says that she could tell by FMR's web site and the buzz on the street that FMR is an organization whose "heart is in the right place", that for FMR staff what we do is more than just a job. Joanna likes the fact that FMR tackles more than one aspect of river protection, and uses different strategies to reach our goals. She enjoys being here, absorbing what's going on and learning about how a non-profit operates. Joanna is from Wisconsin, and says that working here has enabled her to gain a new perspective on the Mississippi River, and the many natural resources there are to protect right here in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Joanna is excited to pull off a stellar Mississippi River Challenge this year. She feels privileged to be a part of FMR's work — and all of us at FMR feel privileged to be working with her. Her creativity and good communication and writing skills are already benefiting the event and the organization, and we hope you will join us in giving her a resounding welcome!