Hayden Sawh

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Hayden is a junior at Spelman College and the first HBCU student to intern at the Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance. She is passionate about environmental sustainability and uses her international studies major, with a concentration in international development, to study environmental policy, urban agriculture, environmental science, sustainable business strategies, and waste colonialism. Her areas of study made her more environmentally conscious, while her study abroad experiences motivated her to implement accessible, sustainable lifestyles in our day-to-day lives.

She is also an interdisciplinary artist who loves experimenting with gouache, digital art, and crafts while being a student curator. With an expansive academic history and experience in art, design, and curation, she plans to use her minor in curatorial studies to intersect environmental justice within creative spaces and utilize her expertise in managing natural/cultural resources.”

Region and Place of Work:

Northeast Region, Department of the Interior, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance (OEPC), Environmental Response and Recovery Division (ERRD), and the Environmental Compliance and Cleanup Division (ECCD)

Job Position: Environmental Protection Intern

What did you find most rewarding about your experience?

I have a wide array of interests within the environmental field (international relations, sustainability, waste management, natural/cultural resources, environmental justice, and conservation), so l’d say the most rewarding aspect of my experience was that I could explore every single one of those interests during the duration of my internship.

I attended an international visitors meeting on marine debris within the Indo-Pacific, CERCLA site visits to Kenilworth Park and Washington Gas, a White House Briefing on New Federal Climate Adaptation Plans, and more! This was also on top of working on three projects, two for the ERRD and one for the ECCD, which allowed me to gain focused work experience in environmental justice, researching suitable metrics for natural/cultural resources, and creating job aids for DOl bureaus and offices. I felt super accomplished and utilized all the resources available to cultivate an internship experience that was perfect for me.

Can you share a memorable experience or project you worked on?

I am so glad this is a question as I can discuss my independently led project on Kenilworth Park’s history as a landfill. The motivation behind this project is my interest in environmental justice, and it is the topic for my final presentation project for the HBCUI program and the ECCD. I wanted to highlight how the Kenilworth landfill was a major environmental injustice to the Anacostia community, as many people do not know of its history and only see it as a park. I was able to connect with Dennis Chestnut, who is the former Executive Director of Groundwork Anacostia River DC. He met me at the Kenilworth Park site and took me through a detailed walk on the Anacostia community, his personal experience in and around the landfill, and his past and current initiatives to maintain a sustainable future for Anacostia. It was amazing to talk about the importance of Black people getting into environmentally related fields and learn about a piece of history that is unfortunately not discussed enough. I also viewed the Anacostia Community Museum’s Reclaiming the Edge: Urban Waterways and Civic Engagement, 2012-2013 exhibition archives.

In-person research helped me find ample information on the Kenilworth landfill that I could not find online. Overall, this is a super cool project, and I plan to continue my research while I am at Spelman!

What skills or knowledge have you gained from this internship?

Learning about Response and Recovery…

I improved my research skills from my internship and became more knowledgeable about environmental response and recovery. Additionally, I learned how curation and conservation play a huge role in disaster response for cultural resources like museums and monuments. It was super cool to explore this field, as before my internship, I had not considered disaster response and recovery as a career path, nor had any prior knowledge of the management process behind it.

For example, the ERRD has to send out subject matter experts to respond to an immediate emergency and initiate recovery after the disaster. For the researching aspect, I learned the importance of being self-sufficient enough to conduct interviews independently when my project lead wasn’t available or when l’d have to reach outside resources to further my research on Kenilworth Park’s history as a landfill.

What advice would you give to future interns at a national park?

My main advice for any future interns who decide to work at a national park, on-site or in-office, is to unapologetically take up space, vocalize your interests, needs, and complaints, connect with your coworkers, and be yourself.

The experiences I got from my internship were because I verbalized my needs, wants, and goals (connecting with my coworkers helped a lot with this process) and did what was best for me without changing aspects of myself to be successful. So, confidently take up that space and do what you know is unique to you, and those specific opportunities catered to you will come forward. If you’re not, you’ll probably do work or receive opportunities that do not suit you or your future goals, and that’s no fun for anybody!

Anacostia Community Museum Archives Tour,

7/18/24

I visited the Anacostia Community Museum to view their Reclaiming the Edge: Urban Waterways & Civic

Engagement collection. I found ample resources on the Anacostia River, the Anacostia community, and the focal point of my project, Kenilworth Landfill (now park).