Living Lands Visionary Dream Team

Input Questionnaire

Hey everyone! Thank you sooooo much for providing your input and direction for Living Lands. You thoughts and ideas are SO invaluable to make this impactful for everything moving forward. I laid out all the questions below to get your thoughtful insight on and there’s a formal button at the bottom that will take you to a form to put all your thoughts. If you prefer to just record a voicenote and text it to me on whatsapp that totally works too and might be fast for you. Or you can call me and we can simply chat. I hope you are all having an amazing spring and thanks again! :)

Question #1: Driving

Is it nice to have instructors that do all the driving? Is it too camp counselor feeling or nice to not have to worry about it? As an alternative, we could provide a number of smaller cars and allow the students to drive in small groups and caravan or meet at the research sites. The autonomy would be nice and the chance to drive in another country but also there's the risk of having to ride with other students that may not be the best drivers. Risk does go up with that freedom. Would you prefer to stick with just having a large van and always having the instructor drive or would you prefer freedom of smaller cars and students driving?

Question #2: Formal Internship Hours?

What type of day to day format is more appealing?

Option #1 Global Treks style: The company takes care of 100% of logistics from start to finish so not a lot of free time or autonomy. The week is packed and busy. Too busy and not enough free time? Or is it nice to show up and not have to think? Traveling abroad is intimidating enough- just showing up and being taken care of is nice? Some students in the past like this setup while others think it feels more like a class “field trip”.

Option #2 Set up the internship to be more traditionally job based. You show up for 8 hours of the day and then at 5 pm you have free time to yourself to go explore on your own or in small groups. Would you want to spend the extra money to rent your own car and explore in the evenings? This style has a lot more freedom and autonomy but then you would be in charge of finding your own things to do and it would be much more hands off.

Question #3: Past Intern Connections

Students always want to reach out to past students. Would you be interested in having your name and bio on the company webpage as a past intern and new students have a chance to send you a message so they see you and the program is legitimate? I was thinking every time a student reached out to you and you messaged with someone you automatically get $20 since you are helping with recruiting? I feel that this would be totally worth it from my end. I also very much respect your privacy so no worries if not! This idea came out of what some of you said- that you reached out to past interns to pick their brain when deciding to participate.

Question #4: Housing Options

Would you be interested in a sliding scale for housing? Would it feel like you have more autonomy when signing up? Or just keep it simple and everyone shows up and everyone has the same exact option like we currently offer.

Sliding scale options: 

Stay in a private room $500 more

Stay in a shared room for 2 people $250 more

Stay in a 6 person dorm- included

Stay in a tent next to the research base- take $500 off program fee

Question #5: Sailing VS Land

You have had the chance to be a part of a land based trip like Iceland and now a sailing trip like Belize. Which one sounds more appealing and which one would you more likely select?

Question #6: Names

What names sound the most attractive when searching for an educational work experience? You can select more than one. I think people like "Internship" because it's more job based vs a field research trip sounds more like school or skills building. Plus, a lot of students need an internship to graduate. I added the "Sustainability" term to each option below just as a placeholder- It could be plants, wildlife, or anything else. What did you research to find Global Treks?

1. Sustainability Internship

2. Sustainability Apprenticeship

3. Research Expedition (May miss out on all the students Google searching for internships)

4. Natureship (was thinking of something more unique like this as I can't effectively use "Internships" on instagram because you can't focus advertising based on age. 

5. Sustainability Mentorship

5. Sustainability Work-Study

6. Sustainability Fellowship

7. Sustainability Field Study

8. Nature Fellowship

9. Sustainability Micro Internship (2-3 week internship)

Question #7: Program Type

What type of project sounds more exciting- both personally interesting and the best to put on your resume. 

1. Developing a naturalist guide/trail guide- just like Global Treks "Treks" magazine that's specific to Iceland but expanding to a more global scale. Each year could be a different focus on a region. One year focus on the Azore Islands, next year focus on Canary Islands, the next year, Japan, etc. Everyone would get a magazine publication and it would be something they are proud to show off.

- This is more observational science and developing a written contribution. Students get more freedom in what they write about. 

-Cons: Some students are looking for more "research" experience. This is more observational science. A lot of students are intimidated by the writing component, a handful of students ghost us after the research trip because they don't want to hand anything in. 

2. Scientific Research Journal- This is what we talked about on the boat. More hands on skills development to add to their resume. This is especially applicable to environmental science students. Students would conduct more in-depth research and their findings would be published in an interactive GIS Story Map scientific journal. The focus would be on conducting plant surveys, microplastic surveys, coral reef mapping, and geospatial mapping of kelp forests. Less pressure to write and work with an editor. The publication would focus on data publication. They would be a contributing scientist. 

Cons: Limits the reach of a diverse group of students since it's focusing more on specific science skills so wouldn't attract as many majors. 

Question #8: Country Locations

What locations sound amazing that you would realistically join?

Tahiti (French Polynesia)

Rarotonga (Cook Islands)

Belize (Sailing)

Hawaii

Azore Islands (Portugal)

Scotland Highlands (Isle of Skye)

Norway/Sweden

San Juan Islands- Off the coast of Washington State U.S. based (Sailing)

U.S. mainland trips that are cheaper that you can drive to- Northern Cascades WA, Big Sky MT. Etc.

Canada- Vancouver Island, Banff, Whistler, Revelstoke

Question #9: Other Thoughts?

Do you have any other other thoughts on what might be helpful when you were signing up and making a decision? Everything is fair game! This is when you get to give your input when a business is forming based on your input!!!

Question #10: Excited/Nervous

When you signed up for Iceland, what made you hesitate? What made you excited?