The Ebb & Flow BLOG

Meet Summer Operations Intern Lily Westerhold

Lowcountry Land Trust is delighted to introduce our summer Nonprofit Operations Intern, Lily Westerhold. Currently a student at Clemson University, Lily is pursuing a major in Business Management with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship and a support area in Agribusiness. The Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business at Clemson empowers students to become innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders in the global marketplace, earning it the title of Best College for Future Leaders by TIME Magazine.

Lily’s lifelong love for the outdoors led her to seek an internship combining her passion for nature and academic interests. Fittingly, the mission of Lowcountry Land Trust resonated deeply with Lily. “The part of Lowcountry Land Trust’s mission I connect most with is its work in ‘connecting the community to conservation.’ I am passionate about conservation and have participated in oyster shell recycling and reef-building, tree planting, nonnative plant removal, waterfowl conservation, and wildlife habitat enhancement,” she explained. 

Through nonprofit operations, Lily is gaining valuable experience in the “behind the scenes” work of Lowcountry Land Trust, which enables our conservation programs to thrive. Throughout the summer, she has assisted with various operational processes to improve throughput. One of her key projects has been compiling a master document of all standard operating procedures (SOPs). It’s a sprawling assignment that will help all staff reduce time spent on administrative tasks. “I gathered most of the already existing SOPs, which include anything from the coffee maker manual to the accounting deposit process, and I attached the links to them into one document. It will help employees find what they are looking for because now all SOPs are in the same place in an organized list,” Lily noted.

Lily has also worked on making Lowcountry Land Trust’s Board Policies more inclusive by removing binary references. “I combed through each governing policy and searched for ‘her/hers/she’ and ‘him/he/his’ and changed them to ‘they/them/their.’” Additionally, she has diligently inserted certificate of insurance (COI) files from each contractor Lowcountry Land Trust uses into a database. She is also helping to increase staff familiarity with Land Trust Alliance Accreditation standards by creating a trivia game from the 2023 Requirements Manual.

All staff at Lowcountry Land Trust (regardless of their role) are encouraged to get out of the office and into the field, and those activities have been Lily’s favorite moments of her internship thus far. “The Boone Hall oyster reef build has been one of my favorites. Participating in a conservation project on a Lowcountry Land Trust-protected property was a full-circle moment. The Angel Oak Preserve tour with Samantha is another favorite. I learned a lot about the history of the Angel Oak and the plans for the future. I like getting out and seeing the positive conservation impacts firsthand.”

Lily is confident that her experience at Lowcountry Land Trust will significantly impact her future studies and career. “I believe my time at Lowcountry Land Trust will help me gain real-world experience in nonprofit operations and conservation. I hope to establish long-lasting industry contacts and friendships. I feel confident that this experience at Lowcountry Land Trust will help me excel in my business and agribusiness courses in the future and help me in my professional career following graduation. I am thankful for this opportunity and looking forward to helping Lowcountry Land Trust this summer!”

We are thrilled to have Lily on our team and look forward to seeing the wonderful contributions she will continue to make in the field of conservation and beyond.

We will be accepting intern applications for next summer in February 2025. If you would like to receive more information about upcoming internships when they become available, please sign up for our email list.

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