Hi! My name is Paige Williams and I’m so excited to be joining Oakland Township Parks as a stewardship technician. I’m originally from Indianapolis, Indiana and I’m a recent graduate of Indiana University. During my time there, I studied Environmental Science and Sustainability. I just moved to Michigan in January, and I am so happy to be here and to start putting down roots!
Growing up in the city, I never would’ve believed that I would become someone who enjoyed the outdoors. I used to brag to my classmates that my parents never took me camping. When I went to college, I was interested in the policy side of environmental science, but I was not an outdoorsy person. My advisor recommended that I take Wilderness Survival, a class where I learned to make a fire with a bow drill that I carved, forage for food, and had a big camping trip as the final. It took me way out of my comfort zone, but I loved it, and since then, I have become someone who loves to hike and solo camps multiple times a year. I can’t imagine my life without my connection to nature and I’m so grateful to have cultivated it during my undergrad.
During my time at Indiana University, I was a cofounder of ReWild IU, a student group dedicated to conservation on campus. I led invasive removal workdays in the natural areas, along with native plantings, and wildflower walks. We also received grants to build a native plant nursery with native seeds from campus. With some of that grant money, I also completed an undergrad honors thesis mapping wildflower populations on campus and wrote a management plan for IU Landscape Services to help protect the over 70 species of wildflowers that IU’s greenspaces have.
I also worked at the Indiana University Research and Teaching Preserve which is a collection of properties that IU owns and does conservation work and research in. I worked closely with the property manager and helped him with the day-to-day of his job, like invasive species removal and general repairs. I also used ArcGIS to make updated property maps for researchers to use.
I’m so excited to call Michigan home and work with Oakland Township Parks and Recreation! If you see me around the parks, please feel free to give me recommendations on parks to go to for beautiful flowers, places to eat, and anything else I’ll need to know as a Michigander!
Paige, I’m so glad you introduced yourself! What an interesting path you took to get connected with nature – going from the policy and theoretical route to hands-on work with and for nature. Both approaches will no doubt serve you well in your career! Thanks for coming to work in our parks. They each have special properties that make them special. I hope we cross paths very soon! – Cam Mannino, stewardship volunteer.