Outer Island Interns 2022

Interns are hired each summer to staff Outer Island and to assist visiting groups with educational programming during their visit to the island. The interns also conduct research activities, including water quality monitoring, and participate in maintenance activities on the island facilities. Below are brief bios for the Summer 2022 Outer Island Interns:

Eleni Haskos

Hello! My name is Eleni Haskos and I had the pleasure of interning on Outer Island, a part of the Stewart B. McKinney Wildlife Refuge. I am senior at Southern Connecticut State University studying Biology with a minor in Chemistry and Environmental Studies. Being a part of the Outer Island crew was a wonderful experience as it was multifaceted; from educating visitors, controlling invasive plant species, to water quality testing. This was a great opportunity to widen my scope of knowledge in island ecology. One of my favorite aspects of the job was being welcomed nearly each morning by a nesting pair of herons, one of whom we nick-named “Marge”. I look forward to working with the refuge biologist this upcoming summer as an invasive plant intern!

Alexis Torres

Hi, my name is Alexis Torres. I'm currently an undergraduate at UConn and I'm in the process of designing my own major called "Marine Resource Management and Indigenous Communities''. I grew up in Branford and have fond memories of visiting Outer Island for a field trip in 8th grade. I remember the excitement and urge to learn about marine and coastal life that the island keepers taught me that day. I finally got to live out my childhood dream of being an educator for protected lands and environmental habitats. 

For the past three years I have traveled the globe seeking to explore different cultures, languages and terrains. In 2020, I worked on a trail crew for the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, then I took a solo road trip down the east coast to Florida where I settled in Miami for a few months. In Spring 2021, I volunteered for All Hands and Hearts in the Bahamas for a few months where I helped build a preschool from the ground up for Hurricane Dorian victims. After the Bahamas I lived in Cartagena, Colombia while teleworking as a student intern for CIRCA UConn. Lastly, I lived in a village next to a dairy farm in the mountains of Bavaria, Germany where I learned some German and took advantage of being surrounded by the pristine landscape. After Germany, I was so excited to return home where I live and work at the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge for the summer. It was a great opportunity to learn more about wildlife and share my passion for it to young children of whom I hoped to inspire enough to go work at Outer as well, just as the interns once did for me.