Northern Lakes Economic Alliance (NLEA) welcomes Abigail Kendziorski from Petoskey as the 2022 NLEA/DTE Energy Foundation Summer Intern. Every summer, the NLEA hires college students, with funds provided by the DTE Energy Foundation, and works with them to design a research project suitable to their interests and area of study. This program enables the NLEA to offer the opportunity for college students to use their skill sets and apply their academics to gain experience working in their field while promoting economic and community development in the region.
Abigail Kendziorski was born and raised in northern lower Michigan. She graduated from St. Michael Academy in Petoskey in 2019 and is currently a senior at Ave Maria University in southwest Florida, studying Global Affairs and International Business as well as Economics.
Kendziorski’s research project is on the outdoor recreation industry of Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, and Emmet Counties. Building upon regional strengths in outdoor recreation and themes discussed at the 2022 Northern Lakes Economic Symposium, her research aims to fully
map the regional outdoor recreation industry ecosystem so the NLEA and its partners can better foster growth in the sector. Her approach includes creating a catalog of all the businesses involved in outdoor recreation in the region and calculating their economic impact. A final report of her research will be submitted.
Kendziorski is grateful to be working with the NLEA this summer. With a love for northern Michigan, she “looks forward to researching and putting together a resource for the NLEA to use to better understand and grow the outdoor recreation industry here in our beautiful area.”
