The summer of 2024 was a big learning year for Johnson County Stormwater staff, especially the stormwater interns. The inaugural season for stormwater interns kicked off in May, taking two undergraduate students through a myriad of work that ended as they went back to school in August.

The county’s Stormwater Management Program hired two interns to complete a host of projects and duties with the hope of giving two college students an opportunity to learn how local government operated.

The work planned for these interns was initially set out to assist the county and cities in meeting Clean Water Act compliance through several field and office projects. But staff quickly learned that these interns had much more to bring to the county than expected.

The program set out to hire two current college students in the fields of engineering, environmental science, earth sciences, and/or local government administration. These two students were selected as the inaugural stormwater interns:

• Alex Norvell, a UMKC student studying environmental science and policy
• Graham Ross, a student from Dordt University in Iowa studying environmental science and ecology

Alex and Graham were tasked with many duties, including monitoring creeks and streams for biological indicators of health, investigating pollution incidents, inspecting infrastructure for sources of pollution, as well as mapping projects, all of which had the interns working across the entire county.

It’s difficult to know what to expect in the first year of an intern program. It’s also hard to predict what the interns will be most interested in and what strengths they will bring to the job. So stormwater staff built in significant adaptability into the work these interns would complete. Not only was this internship an opportunity to complete valuable work, but also a chance to give these interns a chance to shine using their talents and interests to address the most pressing needs in the county.

That’s exactly what Alex and Graham did. With extensive academic experience in geographic information systems technology, the 2024 stormwater interns were able to bring their expertise to many unexpected areas of the work they were to undertake. These GIS strengths led the interns to complete mapping projects – such as locating, inspecting and creating feature layers for all county-owned structures that address stormwater pollution.

Additionally, Alex and Graham were able to map and create data points that were integral to the completion of the county’s Watershed Master Plan GIS datasets. They also were able to create large data sets and maps for water quality and flooding that will be useful to county staff.

As the inaugural interns, Alex and Graham helped create the duties and expectations for the program going forward. They helped establish an intern program that adapts to strengths and interests of each intern. They also provided an expansive view of how local governments operate, and where they could fit in as full-time employees one day.

The program was grateful have the two interns over the summer and looks forward to 2025’s internship program, and to the unique skills, strengths and personalities those interns will bring to the county.

Are you interested in applying to be a stormwater intern for the summer of 2025? The application is open now for you to apply online.

For any questions about the stormwater internship program, please reach out to the Stormwater Project Manager, Ian Fannin-Hughes, at ian.fanninhughes@jocogov.org.