Keppler was already a few weeks into her project when Jared Hansen, a junior geology major, joined the team for his internship. While Keppler looked at the project as an ecologist studying how various systems work together, Hansen brought a geological perspective.
“As I went on, I started collecting rocks and minerals to understand the geology of the area,” Hansen, 25, said. “There was a wide array of rocks and minerals that I collected. I would try to understand more about these minerals, and the conservancy really liked that because they want to understand the geology of the area itself.”
For both students, the experience at the Tejon Ranch Conservancy opened up even more new opportunities.
Keppler’s internship was extended into the fall and spring terms, during which she will work remotely analyzing data the conservancy has collected over the years.
“All that data has been put into a spreadsheet, but it’s never been analyzed,” she said. “They’ve put me in charge of analyzing it and doing my own research to try to present it in a meaningful way so we can see what’s going on, on different levels.”
In addition to helping with the watershed project, Hansen’s personal project studying the Ranch’s rocks ended up inspiring a video series for the Tejon Ranch Conservancy Facebook page. In each video, Hansen tells the viewer a little about one specific rock found on the property.
“For me, it was really hard to transition to that, because I would rather be behind the camera instead of in front of the camera, recording myself,” he said. “But sometimes in a job, you have to do those things. I did it and it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
Though COVID-19 has caused countless cancellations over the last several months, the Tejon Ranch internship was able to go on with just a few adjustments. Interns and staff took separate vehicles when they went out into the field and wore masks while inside and closer than 6 feet apart. The internship would typically involve working with the public during tours, but those were not possible to do with social distancing requirements.
“It really pushed us to focus on the scientific aspect of it,” Keppler said. “It would have been nice to take some people out there just to see their reaction, but I was really content with just going out there and doing my own thing and doing my research and getting lost in it.”
The annual internship is a partnership between CSUB and the conservancy funded by local philanthropist Gayle Batey for the last several years. Already involved with both the university and the nonprofit, she saw potential in bringing the two together.
“I thought it could be a benefit to both organizations,” Batey said. “It was a win-win situation. The university, the students, and the conservancy, everybody gets something out of this. We have a unique area there in the Ranch, and we have a university with science majors. For those two entities to be connected through the students is very positive.”
Keppler and Hansen both said the internship was an incredible experience for them and will help them as they pursue a career or continue their education in the future.