FIELD NOTES BLOG

Meet our Summer Staff Team

Andrea Wallace
June 12, 2024

Mary Miller | Severson Dells Wild Things Camp Lead

My name is Mary Miller (she/her), and this is my second summer at Severson Dells! When I am not at Severson Dells helping out with summer camp, I am teaching big kids (5-12th grade) Social Studies and English Language Arts! My favorite hike at Severson is the creek hike where you go out and explore the Dells under the guidance of a Severson staff member. The Dells here are millions of years old, and we even have some cool fossils we can share with the Rockford community. During summer camp last year, a kiddo was playing with rocks in the creek and discovered a coral reef fossil that is older than dinosaurs. It was a really cool day to be a camp counselor.


I love working at Severson Dells because the staff here are so passionate about the environment, love molding and nurturing young minds, and care deeply about preserving our beautiful space. Severson Dells truly is a rare gem in the Rockford community. It is the best spot to spend your summer vacation.

Liz Weiner | Severson Dells Junior Naturalist Camp Lead

Liz has climbed mountains, conquered white water rapids, learned how to fluently speak dragon, and is also our lead for Junior Naturalist Camp! Her expertise knows no bounds and she's excited to share her knowledge with campers- whether it's knot tying, team building, or creek walking. She's looking forward to camp classics like the "muddiest camper" competition as well as some new and exciting activities. Ask her about what the trolls have been up to, she's got a lot of stories to share!

Alex Marshall | Severson Dells Summer Camp Assistant

Hello nature people! My name is Alex Marshall and I will be returning as a summer camp staff member this summer. I have lived in Rockton for most of my life and love the northern Illinois area and all of its natural spaces. I have been involved in Severson in some capacity—whether as a camper, volunteer, or counselor—for the past decade. I still remember my first year as a camper, refusing to get into the creek until the very end of the week. Now, I love to get into the creek to look for crayfish and damselflies! I recently graduated from Hononegah Community High School and will be attending the University of New Hampshire in the fall to study Marine, Estuarine, and Freshwater Biology. I am passionate about social and environmental issues (grow native gardens!), and enjoy reading, gardening, bird banding, and getting out into nature in my free time. I am so excited to spend another summer at Severson, helping youth to connect with nature.

Mason Powell | Severson Dells Summer Camp Assistant

Hello, my name is Mason Powell, and I’m a part of the Severson Dells team this summer, as a camp counselor. I am a graduate of Hononegah, class of 2024. I have worked for over two years with children. I am super excited to spend my summer making lasting memories and going on lots of creek walks! This Fall, I will be attending UW River Falls, majoring in Environmental Science. I can’t wait to see what the summer has in store!


Alex Lunde | RPS 205 Summer Retreat Lead

Hello, Hello! My name is Alex and here at Severson Dells we give people the opportunity to enjoy and experience nature! I graduated from Augustana College majoring in Geography and Environmental Studies. This year I will be running the RPS summer camps for all our happy campers, I have tons of fun activities in store for all ranging from exploring our wonderful habitats, meeting (and catching) some wildlife, and playing all sorts of exciting games. This summer will be a blast!

Bryce Messer | RPS 205 Summer Retreat Lead

Salutations, my name is Bryce Messer and I serve Severson Dells as an environmental education AmeriCorps. I moved to Illinois from the south to get my Masters at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In my career, I have had the pleasure of working with public programs for all age ranges and have a passion for introducing new people to the great outdoors. I’m looking forward to sharing my knowledge and fostering an everlasting love for nature with my campers. This fall I will be moving to Gainesville, Florida to start my PhD in wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Florida. This summer’s going to be a blast; that’s a Bryce Messer guarantee!

RECENT ARTICLES

By Emma Zimmerman August 26, 2025
When I started at Severson Dells nearly two years ago, I never would have believed I’d still be here today. What was supposed to be a short detour turned into one of the meaningful positions I have served. These years have flown by, and as I sit down to write this farewell, I keep circling back to my early days here. It feels important to revisit that beginning, because in so many ways, it shaped everything that followed.
By Shannon Osadjan August 26, 2025
While my time at Severson Dells is coming to an end, my time and experience as a junior naturalist is just beginning. When I accepted this job position, I was a recent college graduate who was ready to get into the environmental work force but didn’t know where to start. Here I am, a year later, and I feel ready and excited to take on whatever comes my way. Last September, when I first started working here at Severson Dells, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been an educator before and I was nervous about my skill-set, but I pleasantly surprised myself. I found myself enjoying teaching, and the goofy experiences and questions that came with it. When I started here, my biggest goal for myself was to become better informed about the ecology of Rockford, and being more aware and able to identify what’s growing around me. A year later, I am proud of myself and how much I have learned. Because of my schooling background being in geology, I already had a familiarity with looking at the outside world in a different lens. I know how to look at the geology and the basic layout of an area to understand the depositional environment, or what the land most likely looked like back in the day. However, being at Severson Dells for the past year has shown me how to appreciate nature and the outdoors in a new way, in a biological sense. I now know how to look at the ecology of an area and see how the plants are working together, and how this compliments what the birds and the bugs are doing, and how the trees play a role too, and this cycle keeps going. I knew forests were interconnected, but I feel like I truly get it now. It’s helped me to connect the pieces of nature that I wasn’t aware of before, and put them all together now to see a new, bigger picture. Severson Dells is a place I will always hold dearly to me. The experiences I had, the challenges I overcame while being here, and the personal growth I’ve been able to experience: all of this helps shape my love for this lovely forest preserve here in Northern Illinois. I want to be sure to express my appreciation for the staff here at Severson Dells Nature Center, and the kindness they always treat everyone with. The people here are always so willing to help me with learning new skills, diving into intimidating science topics, and trying to help foster that curiosity that everyone has inside of them. As I close this chapter, I feel inspired and grateful for the connections I’ve made, and ready for what the future has in store for me.
By Sydney Sherbitsky August 26, 2025
I’m sitting at my desk listening to the distant chatter of kids outside and the excited murmuring of my coworkers. I am surrounded by tokens of memories - a sticker from the rot museum and a walnut shell owl I made with campers. On my computer screen, a half edited video about the Grove. In my desk drawer, a stack of lesson plans I once felt nervous to teach, but I now know by heart. Next is the bigfoot code from the cryptid hike, handwritten notes from my coworkers, and the spot where my notebook lives. This notebook has been with me from the start of this position and is full of the many things I have learned at Severson Dells. As my time here comes to a close, I flip back through the pages and reflect on what the past year has taught me…