Schmeeckle Graduate Assistantship

The Schmeeckle Reserve Graduate Assistantship provides opportunities to teach and mentor undergraduate students and to learn more about managing a community natural area while pursuing a Master of Science in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Environmental Education and Interpretation. The assistantship is a 20-hour per week position that runs for two academic years including one summer. Click here for more information.

The 2024-2026 assistantship has been filled. We will advertise for the 2026-2028 session in December 2025.

Past Schmeeckle Graduate Assistants

If you are considering applying for the graduate assistantship at Schmeeckle Reserve, these profiles of former students offer a sense of the diverse master's thesis topics and post-graduate careers possible with this assistantship.

Stephanie Somerville: 2020-2022

Thesis: Successes and Challenges of Citizen Science at Nature Centers, 2022

Then: Stephanie’s master's thesis investigated the relationship between nature centers and citizen science programs, focusing on the factors that make nature center citizen science programs successful.

Now: After graduating, Stephanie accepted a job with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithica, New York, where she works as a project assistant with the K-12 Education team within the Center for Engagement in Science and Nature. She supports the team in outreach and communication to educators through social media, eNews, websites, marketing, curriculum development, and professional development initiatives.

Emma Phifer: 2017-2019

Thesis: Formative Evaluation of Heritage Interpretation Career Recruitment Media Targeting Teenagers, 2019

Then: Emma's master's thesis focused on designing and evaluating media that could be used to recruit teenagers into a career in Heritage Interpretation. The results are being used by the National Association for Interpretation (NAI) to develop a recruitment toolkit for this age group. 

Now: After graduating, Emma worked as an environmental educator and heritage interpreter at the Reedy Creek Nature Center and Preserve in Charlotte, NC, part of the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation department. She used her skills to revamp the nature center's homeschool program and coordinate several camps. After the COVID-19 pandemic restricted in-person programs, Emma developed temporary garden signage, worked with the county's graphic designer to update historical signs, and created a video about beekeeping and swarms.

Melissa Ruether: 2015-2017

Thesis: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of Intergenerational Nature-based Programs at Schmeeckle Reserve, 2017

Then: Melissa’s master's thesis focused on discovering the best ways to engage intergenerational groups during nature-based programs to later influence greater participation in outdoor activities. 

Now: After graduating, Melissa stayed on at UW-Stevens Point to become the school-to-home energy educator with the Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program. Melissa worked to improve student and community home energy efficiency through in-class presentations and local events using hands-on tools and activities. She also helped coordinate campus-based and local events, worked with partners such as STEMhero to bring inquiry-based experiences to students, and assisted Green & Healthy Schools Wisconsin to promote the Cool Choices game in classrooms. In 2022, she became Schmeeckle Reserve's outreach coordinator.

Carly Swatek: 2013-2015

Thesis: A Community Needs Assessment to Explore the Feasibility of Expanding Environmental Education Programming, 2015

Then: Carly's master's thesis focused on conducting a community needs assessment for expanding environmental education programming at the Reserve. The results of her work will be used in the future to inform unique areas in the Stevens Point community education programs that Schmeeckle Reserve may fill. 

Now: After graduating from UWSP, Carly worked at Riveredge Nature Center in Saukville, WI focusing on educational technology and evaluation which stairstepped to eventually becoming the Associate Director and then Director of Education. She then went on to become the Director of Wehr Nature Center in Franklin, WI and is practicing new skills while staying connected to her roots at Schmeeckle through various sign, design, and development avenues that all involve the core principles of interpretation.

Megan Espe: 2011-2013

Thesis: An Exploratory Study of How a Community Involvement Program can Benefit Both Schmeeckle Reserve and Potential Participants, 2013

Then: Megan's master's thesis focused on the development of a community involvement program, such as a friends group, to support Schmeeckle Reserve.

Now: After graduating, Megan stayed on at Schmeeckle Reserve to serve as the natural area's Outreach Coordinator. She organized the Friends of Schmeeckle Reserve, a community nonprofit that provides support for Schmeeckle. She also assisted with interpretive consulting projects that help support the Reserve, coordinated educational events, taught undergraduate interpretation courses, and organized volunteer efforts. Currently, Megan is a Learning Specialist with the Wisconsin Forestry Center, based out of the College of Natural Resources at UW-Stevens Point.

Elise Wahl: 2009-2011

Thesis: The Design and Formative Evaluation of "The Wisconsin Conservation Success Stories" Documentary in the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame Museum, 2011

Then: Elise's thesis focused on the development of a video exhibit that tied together the stories of inductees in the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, located in the Schmeeckle Reserve Visitor Center.

Now: Since graduating from UWSP, Elise has worked as an interpretation and education specialist at Spring Mountains National Recreation Area in Nevada and a program manager for the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s Kids in Parks Program in North Carolina. In 2014, Elise created her own business called Timberdoodle Studio in Forest Grove, Oregon, where she now works full-time on interpretive media projects across the country.

Ginamaria Smith: 2007-2009

Thesis: An Evaluation of the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame Exhibit Effectiveness and Exploration of Delivery Methods and Learning Modalities, 2009

Then: Gina’s master's thesis focused on studying the impacts of multi-modal exhibits for interpreting the stories and lives of Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame inductees.

Now: After graduating, Gina became a publications specialist for Alaska State Parks designing interpretive media and then the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) laying out the sport fish regulations. Currently Gina is the program coordinator for the ADF&G Hunter Information & Training Program. Gina oversees statewide staff and coordinates more than 400 volunteer instructors to provide hunter education, bowhunter education, muzzleloader education and multiple outdoor programs designed to recruit and retain new hunters into shooting sports and preserve our hunter heritage. She gets to teach youth and women outdoor skills through youth shotgun leagues, National Archery in the Schools Program, and the Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) Program. Gina also volunteers by giving educational presentations for local groups and schools with a live great-horned owl that is in her care.

Cortney Schaefer: 2005-2007

Thesis: Development of a Community Education Plan for Urban White-Tailed Deer Management, 2007

Then: Cortney’s master’s thesis focused on creating a community education program for urban white-tailed deer management in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The study included determining attitudes and opinions of community residents regarding the deer population, evaluating communication modes to reach the community, and developing a community education plan to teach residents about deer population management. The communication strategies and materials she developed have been used by wildlife biologists working with Wisconsin municipalities to implement often-controversial urban deer management efforts.

Now: After graduating, Cortney became a wildlife biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She managed public and private lands to enhance wildlife populations, provided educational programs to the public, and was very involved with the statewide hunter recruitment/retention program. In 2015, she moved back to her home state of Nebraska and works as the Hunting Heritage Program Manager for Pheasants Forever, advancing a national initiative to recruit and retain hunters.

Nelli (Atkinson) Williams: 2003-2005

Thesis: Development of a Conservation Education and Interpretation Guidebook for the Thorne Bay and Craig Ranger Districts, Tongass National Forest, 2005

Then: Nelli’s master's thesis focused on developing a comprehensive education and interpretation strategy for the Thorne Bay Ranger District on the Tongass National Forest that included an audience needs assessment, collaboration with community organizations, doing a resource inventory, and creating a guidebook to assist adopting similar programs elsewhere.

Now: After graduating, Nelli worked for two small nonprofits in Oregon, first coordinating events, engaging community members in local natural resource issues, designing outreach materials, and teaching students how to grow their own food, and then moving on to grant-writing and managing volunteers. She also taught graphic design at a local community college. Since 2007, she has worked for Trout Unlimited, an organization dedicated to ensuring that fishing remains good in rivers around the country. Currently, Nelli is Trout Unlimited’s Alaska Program Director and is based in Anchorage. In this role her responsibilities include: guiding efforts to protect critical trout and salmon habitat, helping plan and organize the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy, fundraising, and growing the base of Alaskans who are inspired and engaged in issues that affect trout and salmon.