Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Internship Program

Our Greenhouse Internship Program draws highly motivated students from Dorsey High School to conduct scientific research on native pants during the course of the school year. Interns pose scientific questions that focus on coastal sage scrub habitat restoration of the Baldwin Hills, and spend 10 months conducting their research at our greenhouse at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook State Park. Interns’ original research is guided and results directly used by the restoration ecologist currently at work in the Baldwin Hills, our partner, Dr. Margot Griswold of NewFields.

Through our Greenhouse Internship Program, we are investing in and training youth from the highly impacted inner-city schools to serve as researchers and hands-on habitat restorers. Participating Dorsey students are PAID to perform the aforementioned tasks, thereby reinforcing the concept that these students, their thoughts and efforts, are worth a direct monetary investment. For low-income students, who are sometimes expected to contribute to the family income, the paid aspect of this program may be the deciding factor in their parents’ consent to have them participate. In addition, students work directly with biologists and restoration ecologists to actively engage and improve their communities and gain valuable work experience for their college and professional resumes.

Dorsey High has an enrollment of 1,898 students, of which 57%  identify as African Americans and 42% as Latino. Although the school’s vision is to “strive for academic excellence by providing a rigorous curriculum, best educational practices, and extracurricular enrichment activities for all students”, its grim reality is that less than 40% of students graduate in four years, less than 50% of seniors take the SAT, and 66% of students are classified as “economically disadvantaged”. High-achieving students must work exceedingly hard in this environment to rise above the lack of motivation that is pervasive throughout much of the student body.

Our Greenhouse Internship Program offers motivated students an opportunity to engage in academically rigorous scientific research- helping to build their resumes, world experience and self-esteem! Three of our pilot year Green House Interns were graduating seniors and all three were accepted to various universities including: Smith, Williams, and University of California at Berkeley, Los Angeles and Irving campuses!

This exciting program is the result of a partnership between Los Angeles Audubon and NewFields (formerly EARTHWORKS Restoration, Inc.), with funding provided by the Baldwin Hills Conservancy and TogetherGreen. If you wish to visit our project or to support this program, please contact Los Angeles Audubon Society at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (323) 876-0202.
(Link to you tube film – we don’t have the greenhouse film up on our youtube site yet!)

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