Welcome to another Faces of the Fish and Wildlife Service interview! This time, the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office is featuring Brianna Fernandez (BF), a California State University Channel Islands student completing a Summer 2024 Pathways internship. Her project combines her love of the natural world and community outreach. She is interviewed by bilingual communications specialist, Vanessa Morales (VM).
VM: Hey Brianna, we are happy to have you on our team! Can you tell me about your internship program and your project?
BF: I am a Pathways intern with the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office in Ecological Services. My project involves creating outreach materials for educators such as an activity book and species expert video interview. Ideally, educators will use these resources to teach about endangered species, specifically the Western snowy plover and California tiger salamander. My approach is to meet with species experts from both the Service and with the external partners we work with. I join them in their field work to learn about their conservation efforts and adapting what I learn to include into the activity book.
VM: Your project sounds so exciting! Where do you study and what is your major?
BF: I am currently studying biology at CSU Channel Islands, but originally, I attended community college at Moorpark College where I studied environmental science.
VM: What interested you in taking a Pathways internship with the Service?
BF: I love working with students and youth, especially when it comes to sharing outdoor spaces and concepts that I didn’t get to learn about until later in my life. I’d like to inspire people to do what I am doing now because it is so much fun. I am happy and grateful to be there for students to facilitate experiences with the great outdoors in mind, and my project will hopefully do something similar in a classroom setting.
VM: Can you tell me more about the work you’ve done in the past with youth?
BF: Yes! One of the work experiences I am most proud of is working at Emerald Bay Outdoor Academy, which was an outdoor camp on Catalina Island. I got to live there for three months and do outdoor activities with students on a week-long basis. That opportunity is important to me because I got to support the student’s experiences outdoors. Many of the students I worked with came from low-income families and had not had the luxury to explore big destination areas or at times even outdoor spaces that are close to home. As a Person of Color, I feel it is important to reveal to students that anyone can enjoy, explore, and work in the outdoors. When working with youth, I love seeing their faces when they see a wild animal, even if it’s something small like a lizard or something as big as a deer or coyote or even a rattlesnake! I had to learn how to snorkel and teach it effectively within one week. After that, every week a group of students and I snorkeled and explored the Catalina reefs. Throughout my time there I also enjoyed teaching archery, kayaking, and hiking. I am proud of the work I did with the students along with challenging myself to live away from home for the first time those three months. I learned incredible skills I will always carry with me.
VM: Those experiences sound amazing! What sparked your interest in the outdoors and sciences to make you want to pursue your majors?
BF: I didn’t grow up camping or visiting national parks, but my relationship with the outdoors was ignited through visiting local parks in my community. Also, I think it was especially the Wild Kratts show on PBS that sparked my love of nature.
The summer after my high school graduation, I was responsible for taking care of my siblings while my parents worked full-time jobs. While everyone else was traveling, I was stuck at home. I decided to make the best of that summer. I cleaned up a portion of my backyard that had a bunch of weeds and started planting plants that ended up attracting a lot of birds. They started eating all my stuff! I had a realization that those plants brought all those birds to my home. I put feeders out and that whole summer I really connected with my small little habitat in my yard. That experience really spoke to me, and it made me decide that outdoor conservation is what I wanted to do.
VM: Love that story! Now that you’re almost finished with your degree, and you’ve completed plenty of work in the outdoors, is there a conservation mentor you look up to?
BF: I have to shout out my cohort in the Santa Monica Mountains Youth Program, especially the park rangers Antonio, Adriana, and Felipe. That program was my first outdoor job, working alongside 15 other students, where we learned about different job opportunities in the National Park Service. The rangers were our leads for the summer cohort and taught us how important it is to connect with nature. I appreciate the emphasis made on this since, historically, work in this area of government has not had much representation from People of Color. We learned how to clear trails and planted hundreds of native oak trees. We also worked on personal and career development, we spoke with park rangers in various departments such as interpretation, trails and facilities, and connected with nonprofits that supported outdoor conservation. My mentors provided career exploration options by asking about our interests and having USAJobs workshops. They were huge mentors and inspired me to work in the outdoors. My hard work during that internship paid off because I got extended to do an education program called Every Kid Outdoors for a year, and this is where I truly found my passion for the natural world and community outreach.
VM: Sounds like they had a positive influence on you! You’ve done so much already. How do you spend your free time, Bri?
BF: I am the proud parent of five chickens and two ducks, so a lot of my free time is spent watching them play in the water or seeing the chickens search for the mealworms I’ve hidden in the yard. Also, my hidden talent is roller skating, and specifically jam skating. Jam skating isn’t just cruising, it is listening to music and creating choreography on the spot and getting into a rhythmic flow.
VM: Wow, that sounds really fun!
BF: It is, and a great way to spend time outdoors.
VM: What advice would you give to someone who was worried about not “fitting in,” whether in biology or jam skating or something else?
BF: You don’t know what you’re capable of until you go out and try it out yourself. You can walk in with doubts, do the whole experience, and then suddenly you’re like, “wow, I really did that.” Seek out advice from people and do your research if it is something that excites you.
VM: Thank you, Bri! You’re correct that we need to believe in ourselves. Thank you for chatting with me today!
BF: Thank you!
