This summer, Penn State student Umar Adam used the gardens and natural landscapes at The Arboretum at Penn State to teach science to children and families during his Youth and Families Program internship.
On scavenger hunts throughout the Arboretum, bees were observed to teach lessons about pollination, tadpoles provided excellent examples of amphibian life cycles, and birds nesting in a tree proved to be a prime opportunity to teach about habitats, giving the young learners a hands-on educational experience.
“I have come to realize a very important part of learning occurs outside of the classroom. Learners are interacting with what you are teaching, and they see it, feel it, and touch it. Then, they are more interested in what you are teaching,” Adam said.
Of course, the children were not the only ones who were learning outside of the classroom. A doctoral student in science education through the Penn State College of Education, Adam is working to become a professor, hoping to teach the next generation of science educators. Through his internship at the Arboretum, he gained valuable insight that he will pass on to his students.
“At the Arboretum, I get to develop lesson plans, implement lessons, and develop objectives, content, and procedures. We see the learning process in action,” Adam said. “I can interact with the children and see how they learn and how we can take those big science concepts and narrow them down to what they can understand. I can take that back to my class and teach these pre-service teachers how to teach science concepts to elementary kids. This program has been very enriching for me and my future.”
Like Adam, Penn State students and recent graduates across the state have enriched their classroom education with real-world, hands-on learning experiences in the field through Penn State Outreach programs like Fullers Overlook, Musser Gap Greenway, and Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, all while making a positive impact in the community.
“Added to my Penn State experience”
At the Arboretum, interns like Adam complete field work experiences such as leading school field trip programs for approximately 650 K-12 students per year, creating and implementing curriculum for the daily Discovery Drop-In programs, which attract more than 4,000 visitors per year, and assisting with other programming for children and their families.
“Our interns get to engage in repeated experiential learning opportunities that allow them to observe and practice multiple methods of delivering informal environmental education programming, and the Arboretum and our visitors benefit from having the interns staff our wonderful educational programs,” said Jenn Hooven, youth and family programs manager at the Arboretum.
Other internship opportunities at the Arboretum range from working with the plant collections management team or the horticulture team (developing skills relevant to a career in collections management, plant curation and professional horticulture) to working with the events and rental management team (which is perfect for undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates interested in career paths in hospitality, event management and staffing).
Hooven said they all provide an opportunity for students to take what they learned in the classroom to a real-world setting. Another big component of internships at the Arboretum is weekly community educational days where they travel near and far to observe other professionals in their field.
For Adam, who just came to Penn State from Nigeria this spring, the opportunity to develop his social and professional network has been invaluable as he looks to continue his doctoral program over the next three and a half years.
“There are these opportunities for us to make connections and collaborate with people and build our network,” Adam said. “All of these opportunities I have had at the Arboretum have really added to my Penn State experience. I am always happy on Monday when I start my week because I get to see the beautiful faces at the Arboretum, build relationships, and work with the community.”
Communicating environmental stewardship
As Penn State senior Zach Wilusz led young campers at Shaver’s Creek as they splashed in the stream and flipped over rocks searching for invertebrates to identify and learn from, he could not help but think back to his youth spent exploring nature in northeastern Pennsylvania and the impact it had on him.
“Growing up, I was fascinated by nature, and I also saw that there are problems caused by humans. I want to make an impact and help protect the things that I grew up being so curious about,” said Wilusz.
As a summer camp staff member at Shaver’s Creek this past summer, Wilusz was able to help inspire the next generation of nature lovers while also getting a hands-on learning experience that will help his career.
“Sharing that curiosity with these kids is really rewarding. I have had campers roll over a log and see a salamander. Just seeing their eyes light up is worth it. It really makes them care more about the world around them.”
Majoring in environmental systems engineering, Wilusz hopes to help communities by designing solutions to environmental problems after graduating. He said working at Shaver’s Creek has given him an opportunity to take the things he has learned at Penn State out into a real-world environment.
“I feel like if I am able to communicate the environmental stewardship concepts I learned in the classroom with children, I should be able to communicate that to adults, such as how important our environment is and ways that we can protect natural habitats,” he said. “Having this experience will help me when I enter the field.”
Summer camp is just one of many field-study opportunities for students at Shaver’s Creek. Hundreds of students a year from across the University also earn credit with Shaver’s Creek by becoming counselors for a week of Outdoor School, a residential environmental education program for fifth graders, or by becoming costumed interpreters at Maple Harvest Festival.
“The people who I get to work with here are so amazing, and they can help guide me into a future path,” Wilusz said. “I know it is cliché, but it is like a family at Shaver’s Creek.”
Finding a path
After graduating from State College Area School District in the spring of 2025, Willem Hathaway planned on taking a gap year. Then, he started volunteering at Musser Gap Greenway, working with Conservation Director Mike Toolan on stream restoration.
Having grown up in the area, Hathaway was familiar with Musser Gap Greenway, the 355-acre parcel of farmland, trails, forests and streams that Penn State has been working to restore and use as a valuable resource for education, conservation, and recreation since 2014.
He was eager to make an impact as a volunteer, and volunteering led to Hathaway become the first conservation intern to support the greenway, providing him with the path to his future that he was looking for. Working directly with Toolan and the support of the staff at Shaver’s Creek, the internship opened his eyes to what a career in conservation could look like. He then began his Penn State journey as a forestry major last spring.
“Working with Mike and the people at Shaver Creek, I got to hear about their experiences and the things they do in conservation, and it was inspiring,” Hathaway said. “Then, working and putting that all into practice in the field with Mike at Musser Gap, it really led me in a direction I am excited about.”
While working to help manage a stream buffer habitat area, Hathaway said he was able to use the things he was learning in the college classroom.
“Especially soil mapping,” Hathaway said. “Mike had me look over all the different maps from when Penn State originally acquired the property. So, looking at that and then going to the property and using the tools I learned in my class was really interesting.”
Toolan hopes to continue working with conservation interns at the greenway in the future and said the hands-on learning Hathaway did so early in his college career will be beneficial as he continues.
“Considering Willem was in his first year at Penn State during his time as an intern, I think he now has an interesting perspective on how his studies will apply to the real world,” Toolan said. “In my experience, most interns pursue these internship opportunities later in their academic career, which has its own advantages, but Willem will now approach these courses having already had hands-on experience and opportunities to connect with like-minded partners.”
Living field lab
When Penn State student Hailey Long heard about Fullers Overlook, she was intrigued.
Gifted to Penn State in 2024 thanks to the generosity of Mort and Sue Fuller, the 355-acre property in Lackawanna County features over a dozen buildings, 26 bedrooms, more than 120 acres of forests, wetlands, and meadows, a 39-acre lake, and a 10-acre regenerative farm. It now acts as a living lab for environmental science faculty and students while giving recreation, park, and tourism management (RPTM) students a chance to use class skills on trail maintenance and safety.
“I grew up nearby, and I had never heard of it, so I wanted to check it out,” Long, who grew up in Tunkhannock, said. “I went on my own and was able to take a tour, and it was an awesome experience. There was so much history and so much to see. I wanted to learn more.”
Long worked her spring schedule around so she could fit an RPTM course into her schedule. The course, focused on park management, included a three-day, two-night trip to Fullers Overlook, with the support of Penn State Extended Learning Partnerships, to do trail maintenance work and learn from the landscape.
“It was really cool to be able to make an impact. We made natural bridges with downed trees and tried to make the trail more sustainable.” Long said. “For me, since I grew up there, it means a lot to be able to give back and then be able to tell people, ‘You can go visit, too, and check out the trails I helped with.’”
Providing these kinds of opportunities for students to learn and grow is exactly what the Fullers had in mind when they donated the property, said Marianne Orlandini, senior administrative coordinator for Fullers Overlook.
“A Penn State student’s hands-on experience at Fullers Overlook highlights wider academic and career possibilities. It allows them to demonstrate practical skill application outside the classroom and clarify future paths through their experience,” Orlandini said. “We hope to work with more local colleges to encourage research. As we continue to improve access, we’re hopeful that not only will more Penn State employees take advantage of our research site, use our meeting/classroom space, and enjoy free lodging, but later engage the community through various onsite programming. This property allows people to visualize their ideas and learn in the field.”
For Long, who is majoring in finance, the things she learned at Fullers Overlook are going to make an impact on her future after she graduates this December.
“I really want to build a community; kind of like what Penn State has given me,” Long said. “Taking classes like this one and being able to make an impact has inspired me to do that, build a community wherever I go.”