Vlada Gladun

High School Apprentice

“I've always been really interested in ecology and the way that biology works. As a kid when I was walking by trees, I was the one that would notice how beautiful they were and all the singular details and every single leaf. And so when I got offered this position, I thought this is wonderful.

People are really good about making sure you're getting a chance to do every position so you're not like, oh, I'm really good at data, but I suck at doing trees. They say, 'Hey, do data the first part of the day and then you can do tree-finding the next, and then you can do range-finding.’ So you get a wide variety of everything.“

How do you stay motivated?

“I think that the undergrads really help. Having people all around who are positive helps everybody keep going. They say, 'Hey, don't forget to drink water.' Or, 'Hey, how are you doing?' They check up on you. They care about you. So it's not just like I'm here for myself. We're a happy little family and it's all very cute!”

What's one of the best things you've learned so far while being here?

“That duct tape gets ticks off the best.”

Vlada worked with Jonathan Myers' Forest Biodiversity team during summer 2018. Learn more about their long-term temperate forest research here and their prescribed fire experiment here.