Intern Insights is a mini-series that spotlights the interns participating in the Sustainability Internship Program (SIP) and their day-to-day activities and accomplishments. The Office of Sustainability partners with the Student Sustainability Council and sustainability-related units from across the University to provide exciting and meaningful undergraduate internship opportunities for UK students. Interns work with a mentor to support a specific sustainability-related unit on campus, develop an independent project, and participate in a professional development series with a full cohort of interns. We are excited to share the perspective of Henry Walke, one of our UK Recycling interns, as we explore the role sustainability plays in the student experience at the University of Kentucky.
My name is Henry Walke and I am a Sustainability Intern working with UK Recycling this academic year. I’m currently a sophomore here at UK and am majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies. I wanted to work with recycling because it was a good opportunity for me to expand my horizons in an operations-based field that I didn’t know much about and gain some career development in the process.
In the past, UK Recycling has worked with many sustainability initiatives campuswide, and their reach extends to both the academic and medical campuses. Just this year, UK Recycling has been involved with the Sustainability Showcase, Arbor Day, and the Sustainability Festival.
When it comes to my duties within the department, I largely work with keeping the recycling processes of staff and students as smooth and efficient as possible, as well as conducting outreach to teach students about recycling.
As part of the internship’s required independent project, I will be creating a start-to-finish video of the recyclables that end up in bins around campus so viewers can learn what happens to the products they recycle at UK. I will follow these materials with a camera to provide a firsthand view for individuals that may be unsure whether their recycling practices are really making a difference.
By the end of the spring semester, I’d like to have the video pieced together in a few different formats, each for different methods of sharing. I’d like to have a shorter, faster paced video format that’s quick and easy to watch, as well as a longer, more informative video.
I’ll also be working with different methods of computer tools to make the content as clear as possible. One thing I’ll be working on is making a Sankey chart to represent where the University’s waste materials end up. This chart will represent the proportions of waste, and where certain types of waste are diverted after leaving the University. Additionally, I’ll be learning about Premier Pro so I can effectively edit and stylize the video that I’ll be filming. Finally, I’ll likely work with GIS & Mapping to visualize some of the campus operations. These maps may be used in the final video, or they may just be helpful tools for campus operations.
All in all, I’m really looking forward to working with UK Recycling in the upcoming months!