7/4/2024: Blooming Professionals: Preserve Summer Interns To Present Their Own Class

Each summer, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve has the honor of hosting soon-to-be native plant professionals. This year's interns, Meryl Callaway and Grace Lenart, will be presenting their own topics to our Thursday Night Nature attendees: Symbiosis in Flight: The Butterfly-Host Plant Connection. Throughout their internships, they have been diving deep into all aspects of Preserve life, supporting our mission and fostering their growth and interests.

Traditionally, each intern works on an individual topic, but this year our creative duo has decided to combine their interests, talents and knowledge into a collaborative effort: the symbiotic relationship between host plants of the Preserve and butterflies. In their installment of Thursday Night Nature, they will explore how butterflies and plants interact throughout their life cycle and why it’s important for the ecological community. Learn how to support this symbiosis through plant selection and placement in your garden, such as pipevine swallowtail butterflies (Battus philenor) and Dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla) as well as Baltimore checkerspot butterflies (Euphydryas phaeton) and white turtlehead (Chelone glabra).

Callaway is an environmentalist and avid nature lover from Yardley, PA. Before joining the Preserve, she earned a degree in environmental science from the University of Vermont, where she concentrated in conservation biology and biodiversity and minored in geospatial technologies. Through her research, Callaway worked to quantify the spatial extent of biological hotspots and their relationship with preserved forest areas of VT.

“At the Preserve, I have enjoyed furthering my understanding of ecosystem dynamics," she says. "I have also enjoyed getting involved in the New Hope community.”

Lenart is a consistently soil-laden horticulturist, artist and devotee of all things verdant. Before arriving at the Preserve, she received a B.S. in horticulture with a minor in horticultural therapy from Temple University. She facilitated nature-based wellness groups for students on campus, conducted research on environmental drivers of herbaceous distribution across a disturbed forest at the Temple Ambler Field Station, and worked as a student gardener at the Ambler Arboretum.

“I want to use my background in plant identification, passion for art and interest in advocating for others to make a meaningful impact on the Preserve that will benefit visitors for years to come,” she explains.

The Preserve is so excited to be part of their budding career and educational journeys. Please sign up for their class to show them your support. The full Thursday Night Class Bundle is also on sale for an extra summer discount price until Thursday, July 11.