Meet BTLT’s Summer Intern!

I’m Dylan Sloan, a rising junior at Bowdoin College, and I’m thrilled to be interning for the Land Trust this summer! I have an interest in nonprofit work and I’m looking forward to experiencing what it’s like to work in a local nonprofit organization for a few months by helping out with tasks across the board, from communications to stewardship and everything in between. I’m particularly excited about opportunities to get outside and enjoy the beautiful land managed by the BTLT through stewardship projects, as well as getting a sense of how the Land Trust both has been and plans to keep adjusting programs and operations due to COVID-19.

At Bowdoin, I’m an economics major with a minor in Chinese. Outside of the classroom, I’m a managing editor for the Bowdoin Orient, the school’s newspaper—in fact, I actually first found out about BTLT after writing an article about the organization last spring! In my free time, I’m an avid triathlete. I completed my first Ironman in Santa Rosa, California last May, and I’m currently signed up for my next big race in Old Orchard, Maine at the end of the summer. (I’m hoping that by getting familiar with the Land Trust’s trails and preserves, I can add some new running routes to my arsenal!) My favorite thing about going to school in Maine is getting to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery, and I’m thrilled to be able to spend the summer in Brunswick getting outside and engaging with the outdoors through this internship.

My career plans—and even my major—are still very much up in the air, and I have little idea of what I want to do after graduation. However, the work that the BTLT does fascinates me, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to get some real experience working in a nonprofit setting and gain a better sense of how a land trust operates. I hope that the work I do this summer will help better inform me on which directions I might go after graduating from Bowdoin in two years, and perhaps start me on a path to pursuing work in the nonprofit sector as a career.