Passionate about the environment doesn’t even begin to describe communication senior Lauren Tamboer and the work she is doing as a communications intern at MSU Sustainability.
She is pursuing a minor in environmental and sustainability studies, a decision that she said was inspired by her father.
“My Dad has definitely had an influence on my interest in the environment,” Tamboer said. “He was always asking, ‘What tree is this?’ ‘What animal is that?’,” Tamboer said. “The environmental classes (at MSU) also keep my interest ... I hope to dedicate my career in some type of way to the study of sustainability.”
The internship with MSU Sustainability is a year-long position. Tamboer said she has already learned so much. She runs all of the “Be Spartan Green” social media accounts, developing content and monitoring channels. She also creates the content for the newsletter that goes out every month. She contributes a story of her own to the newsletter, which requires her to research and brainstorm as well as interview a subject matter expert.
Sometimes, she interviews professors or researchers for these stories. They are all based on environmental topics, community engagement and sustainability.
“I have a really strong personal connection to sustainability, which makes this job fun for me,” Tamboer said. “The environment is one of the issues I care most about and one of the most pressing issues in the world. Our generation is really receptive to these issues and there is a lot of research being done here at MSU. Seeing other people’s passion about it, gives me passion about it, too.”
Her passion led her to seek out more information and eventually to her internship.
“I followed ‘Be Spartan Green’ on social media and they always keep all of their channels updated with positions,” Tamboer said. “I wanted an internship that combined my passions for communication and the environment and when I heard about this job and the content I would be writing, this sounded exactly like what I was looking for.”
Tamboer found the job on MySpartanCareer, the career network website replaced by Handshake, and formally applied.
“When they offered me the job, I accepted right away,” Tamboer said. “I knew it would be a good fit.”
In addition to working on issues that matter so much to her, she said her favorite part of the job is the people.
“They really make it,” Tamboer said. “Everything is collaborative and they value my opinion. I know that it’s okay to try things out and make mistakes. When other people care about sustainability, it makes the collaboration so worthwhile.”
For those who don’t exactly know what sustainability means, Tamboer describes the term as living a lifestyle using resources in a way that allows future generations to use our future resources.
“We cover water, transportation and campus environment. Sustainability on campus is the ultimate goal,” Tamboer said. “We focus on the community message of sustainability and send the message out to university facilities. We also try to focus on including students in the sustainability conversation so they can share their own impact on campus.”
Tamboer said this internship has solidified that she wants to further pursue environmental communications. This field keeps her excited about a future career. Her advice for searching for that perfect job or internship is to be selective.
“It’s about paying close attention to where you would want to work and what content they are creating,” Tamboer said. “It’s challenging to find something that blends all of your passions together, but it definitely comes around if you just keep looking.”
By Meg Dedyne
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