Meet Our Intern, Kaley Hallmark

Hello Sweetwater friends! I am excited to have begun my first week as an intern and look forward to the adventures ahead. This first blog post will give you a deeper look into who I am and how I became connected with David and his work.

First off, I’ve had a draw to nature for as long as I can remember. I was the last of three children born in Plano, Texas, to Brent and Tammi Hallmark. At the age of 3, our family packed up and moved North to Andover, Kansas, where I spent the rest of my early childhood. When I was 7, my parents bought a 7-acre property just outside of the city limits, and, I guess you could say, that’s when my captivation of the outdoors really exploded. We had a small creek than ran through our backyard that included an old, misshapen concrete bridge that I loved to sit on and watch the water pass underneath me. Sometimes I would sit under the bridge to be closer to the water. I would venture down to the creek whenever I had the chance to slip away from the watchful eyes of my parents or sisters. It was always so peaceful there. Every time I sat under the giant oak trees and listened to the stream flowing, I was awed by the earth’s grandeur. The sense of peace that came from being outside was unlike any other. I later discovered this awe and peacefulness I experienced in nature was due to an overwhelming awareness of the presence of God, Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

In addition to relishing time outdoors, I have always been fascinated by the mixing of things. As an elementary homeschooled kid, adding household liquids together on the kitchen table to see what new substances I could create gave me many hours of excitement. I told everyone in my family that I was going to be a chemist! They kindly informed me that once I took an ‘actual’ chemistry class I would hate it. I was determined to prove them wrong.

Fast-forward to my Sophomore year of high-school in which I took my first ‘actual’ chemistry class – Honors Chemistry. I loved it! And I didn’t even have to fake my enthusiasm to avoid hearing “I told you so” from my family. It thrilled me to learn real-life applications and uses for the tedious math skills I had been forced to learn up to that point. At the end of the year we were given a brief introduction to Organic Chemistry, focusing on the ways that certain compounds are classified and named. I finally understood why the rubbing alcohol bottle under our bathroom sink had the words “isopropyl alcohol” on it, and I could even draw the chemical compound with elements and bonds and everything! That settled it. I was going to be a chemist.

But there was a problem. I still loved the outdoors. I wanted to find a job that would allow me to be outside. I also loved animals and desired to work with animals. Was it possible to be a chemist and not be confined all day inside a sterile lab? Was there a career that combined all my interests?

When it came time to choose a college major, I was torn between pursuing chemistry or biology. I began at Covenant College in the Fall of 2015 as a Chemistry major with a Biology minor. My experience in the introductory biology class was so fantastic that after my freshman year I couldn’t choose between biology and chemistry as a major. So I did both. This decision ultimately led me to David and Sweetwater!

In April, 2019, David sent an email to my Environmental Biology advisor at Covenant seeking interns. The previous summer, I had taken an Environmental Chemistry class that incited a fascination for water quality analyses and determining ecological causes for water quality concerns, such as high pH levels. I heard about Sweetwater from my advisor and was immediately interested in David’s work. The initial draw to Sweetwater was simple: water! After that, I was enticed by the fact that Sweetwater is grounded in gospel-sharing ministry and I appreciated David’s holistic approach to providing sustainable water resources. I wanted to be a part of the amazing work that David was doing as both a scientist and a believer in Jesus Christ.

Now, as a Sweetwater intern, my responsibilities include working with David to engineer a filter for a rural Cambodian village using moringa seeds and continuing the pond restoration work at the Walnut Creek Hunting Club. The WCHC pond will be the staging area for Christian discipleship of men and women recovering from lifestyles of addiction. I will also be leading women at the pond through the Scriptures with an emphasis on God as our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. I am looking forward to expanding my scientific problem-solving abilities and Biblical worldview, developing stronger discipleship capabilities, and growing in my faith and dependence upon the Lord through this internship.

When I’m not engaged in scientific analysis, I enjoy virtually any outdoor activity: hiking, camping, kayaking, rock-climbing, mountain biking, etc. I also was a varsity basketball player through my four years at Covenant College and enjoy soccer, ultimate frisbee, sand volleyball, and spikeball as well. Though I do love all living creatures, and am the proud mother of two cats (Mama Kitty and Cutie), I am especially fond of penguins and it is a life-long dream of mine to travel to Antarctica to see a wild penguin colony.