FIELD NOTES BLOG

Jillian's Farewell

jillian.americorps
June 3, 2024

In the beginning of June, I will be wrapping up my time as an AmeriCorps Member here at Severson Dells, and I couldn’t be more grateful for all the experiences I’ve had over the last few years. When I first started in the spring of 2021, I had recently graduated with a degree in Plant and Microbial Biology, and I was still trying to figure out where my career path would take me. Now, three years later, I am excited to begin my next chapter as a graduate student at UW-Madison studying landscape ecology.  


Throughout my three terms with Severson Dells, I have learned so much and grown both personally and professionally. My work on projects like community science, habitat restoration, and environmental education has made me a better communicator and- if possible- an even bigger data nerd. These programs showed me the importance of involving community members in the scientific process, not just because it improves overall science and nature literacy while bridging what can sometimes be a daunting gap between scientists and the public, but also because people genuinely want to be involved and learn more about the world around them and what it means to do science. 

I can also see how much I’ve grown through how comfortable I am at taking on projects that would have terrified me when I first started here. Training and mentorship from Severson staff members have instilled a new confidence in me when it comes to things like leading school programs (something I was VERY intimidated by), making and delivering presentations, and creating educational social media content. As I transition back into the academic realm, I’m sure these skills will be crucial, and I’m grateful for encouragement and gentle nudges from my Severson mentors as I worked on developing them. 


Overall, my time at Severson Dells Nature Center has reminded me of the importance of finding awe and wonder in the world around us.  I’ll certainly miss being in such a collaborative, imaginative, and oftentimes goofy work environment, and all the people that make it that way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this position, and all of these personal and professional relationships that I’ve built here have helped craft me into the human and the scientist/communicator/educator that I am today. As beautiful as Severson Dells is as a place, I’ve learned that the community that makes up Severson Dells Nature Center is even more precious and inspiring. 

RECENT ARTICLES

By Linda Sandquist August 7, 2025
As we observe National Make-A-Will Month this August, I want to relate a personal story about preparing my own will. Have you ever heard the saying “the cobbler’s children have no shoes”? Up until a month ago, this statement described me since my husband is a lawyer and we had no will or estate plan. I counted myself in good company when I learned that Abraham Lincoln, Picasso, Sonny Bono, and Aretha Franklin all died without a will. And I had a lot in common with the 72% of Americans who have not officially spelled out what should happen to their assets upon their death. Wills and estate plans are easy to put off. They feel too complicated, too time-consuming and too official. And frankly it’s not much fun to think about who should get what, knowing that at least one person is going to be disappointed and someone will most likely think they were left with the short end of the stick. While a will can’t soothe hurt feelings, one with a named executor will speed up the probate process and ensure that your wishes are fulfilled. Creating a will doesn’t have to be time-consuming or difficult - there are many resources online to help you write a document that needs only to be witnessed and notarized. The resources I found were free, very helpful, and very legal. Steps were simplified and I completed my will in less than an hour. If your wishes are more complicated, finding an estate attorney is also easy and can be very affordable. Another benefit of making a will or estate plan is that you get to decide what charities and nonprofit organizations will receive a final gift from you. If you’ve been a passionate supporter of something over your lifetime, wouldn’t you like to give them a final gift that really means something? It’s easy to direct a certain dollar amount or a certain percentage of your estate to an organization you really care about. And the organization is bound by law to follow your intentions - you can choose whether you want your gift to go to a certain program, operations and overhead, building maintenance, or an endowment fund. Equally as impactful, is making your favorite charitable organization the beneficiary of your retirement fund, IRA, or life insurance policy. Here at Severson Dells Nature Center, we ask that you consider including us in your estate plans. When you do, you become part of our Heritage Society, a group of like-minded folks, dedicated to the future of nature education in our region. Your gift, large or small, will make a difference. In 2016, a bequest from Orville and Ruth Varland to Severson Dells created an endowment fund to support field trips for students from the Rockford Public Schools. The fund has grown over time and continues to make a difference in the lives of young people who come to the Dells, many experiencing nature for the first time. Each year, students who have never been in a forest, seen a natural creek, or sat in the grass are here because of the Varlands. The legacy of Orville and Ruth lives on and on and on. I invite you to celebrate and Make-A-Will this month. Take the time to look for online resources or contact your attorney. Make sure your intentions are clearly written down so that when the time comes, there is no question about what you wanted. Please consider including Severson Dells in your will and join our Heritage Society. And let us know that you included us so we can thank and celebrate you now! If you've already considered Severson Dells in your estate plans, let us know! Email me at linda@seversondells.org or call me at 815-335-2915. * Please note: Severson Dells Education Foundation is not a legal entity and cannot give legal advice. We encourage you to seek out legal advice should you have any questions about the process of making a will or leaving an estate gift. Our Tax ID number is 36-2985870
By Sydney Sherbitsky July 16, 2025
Summer days have an intense energy. For us, it’s easy to pack a lot of activity into long, sunlight-filled days. The atmosphere is packed in a different way, with thick, heavy humidity and sun-baked heat. You have probably experienced one of these particularly sweltering days where periods of calm are interrupted with a sudden summer storm. One moment you are relaxing, the next, you hear the rumbling of thunder, and it begins to rain, instantly cooling the hot ground and taking the stickiness from the air. You don’t have long to take in the scene as the intensity of the heat gives way to an intense storm. This is a different kind of energy in the air; this is a summer storm.
By Shannon Osadjan July 3, 2025
Nature holds the answers for how to be more efficient with managing our supplies of earth’s natural resources. In fact, nature serves as the inspiration and blueprint for many structures and objects we use every day! Biomimicry is a practice of engineering that creates designs based on structures and sequences from the Earth’s natural world, including but not limited to plants, animals, and geographies. Biomimicry designs are meant to imitate functions that already exist and occur in nature. These designs are being transferred over and scaled up to provide solutions to human caused problems. There are three main core principles that make up biomimicry: recreating natural shapes, processes, and entire ecosystems.