Elliot Omlid recently completed an internship with Boundary Waters Connect. This is what she had to say about they experience.
This is a thank you for allowing me to work with Boundary Water Connect (BWC) this summer. Although I have been a student at Minnesota North Vermilion Campus, I had not had the pleasure of living here in the summer. Thanks to BWC and EDAM I have now been able to experience summer in the northwoods, and to experience this community beyond the college campus. I have learned a lot, and understand that there is still a lot more to learn, which is exciting.
My internship involved hosting Tuesday group, a free weekly educational forum, as well as supporting a committee of nonprofit leaders and business owners who will be hosting an Ely for Ely community leadership workshop this fall. I also took photos and processed video files to Boundary Waters Connect’s capacity to tell the story of how special this community is. This internship has made me grateful for all the people who work to serve the community in Ely; it is much more tight knit than the community I am from in the metro area of Minnesota. I have learned that economic development takes many forms, but my favorite is the social development that BWC works on. Seeing community members getting together to help each other is a great sight when you realize with a small town, change and improvement can come faster than in a large city.
Although my internship is ending, there is still so much of Ely that I still look forward to experiencing. The summer is too short to cover all the things I wanted to get to. While I am still a student I will continue to explore Ely to the fullest. You may even see me again at Tuesday Group! Eventually, I will retire in Ely if possible, but for now I will just say thank you to all the people who have helped me throughout this summer and I’ll see you around.