Upstate Forever
Staff/Intern News
Sykes, Wagner, Kocisko, and Tynan Join Staff
 Jacqueline Sykes is joining Upstate Forever’s land trust staff after receiving her Master’s degree in Parks and Protected Area Management at Clemson. Her responsibilities include preparing applications to the SC Conservation Bank and assembling land trust property profiles. Jac spent the summer of 2005 in our office as an intern for the Conestee Foundation, and we are thrilled to have her back. A native of the Chicago area, Jac’s diverse interests include tap dancing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, swimming, and painting.
 Stephanie Wagner has been a vital part of Upstate Forever since she came to Greenville in 2003, first as a volunteer, then as an intern, and now as a staff member: she has been hired as Planning and Quality Development Director. Stephanie just received her Masters’ degree in City and Regional Planning at Clemson, and will be working on education and advocacy projects both in the Greenville and Spartanburg offices. She enjoys reading, gardening, and working on her “fixer-upper” house with her husband, Kurt.
 Christina Kocisko is our new administrative assistant in the Spartanburg office. A native of Spartanburg, she returned in 2005 from Togo, West Africa, where she served as a Natural Resource Management Extension Agent in the Peace Corps. She graduated in 2003 from Wofford College with a biology degree and now resides in Spartanburg.
 John Tynan is the newly hired Watershed Conservation Associate for Upstate Forever, working closely with the Saluda-Reedy Watershed Consortium to address the impacts of land use change on water quality in the watershed of the Saluda and Reedy Rivers. His primary focus is on educational outreach efforts and coordination of special events such as the watershed tours, water-quality field trips and the watershed leaders’ forums. Last summer John interned with the Friends of the Reedy as well as NorthWind Consulting (formerly Pinnacle Consulting Group) on a variety of river and Lake Conestee projects. John holds a bachelor’s degree from Furman University and recently received his Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University.
 Meet Intern Colin Hagan
Far from his Texas home, Colin Hagan is currently an intern with Upstate Forever and the Saluda Reedy Watershed Consortium. A member of the Furman University Class of 2007, he majors in Political Science and English. Colin is the President of the Furman University Environmental Action Group and is active in biodiesel production on campus. He enjoys spending his free time hiking and reading. |
Interns: Where Are They Now?
Francis Gallivan
 After graduating from Dartmouth in 2001, Francis Gallivan returned home to Greenville and spent some time in the Upstate Forever office working on research and general office tasks. “At Upstate Forever, I learned about all kinds of important planning issues like green building, land preservation, and smart growth. For the first time I began to think about the possibility of shaping the places that I live, rather than simply inhabiting them,” Francis says. He later spent two years in London at a town planning consultancy. Francis is now completing his master’s degree in city planning at the University of California Berkeley and is volunteering long-distance on a writing project for Upstate Forever. He concludes, “If not for my time at Upstate Forever, I almost certainly wouldn’t be doing what I am now.”
|
|