The NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Paid for (Some) of My College!!

Despite my enjoyable, full college experience, I was feeling the pressure of deciding on a next step. It felt time for me to declare a major. UGH. I knew I could renew my full-ride choir scholarship another year if I knew what I wanted to focus on, but I just wasn’t quite ready to commit yet! Without seeking out an alternative to school, an alternative opportunity sought me!

I received an email from a friend that had been forwarded several times, and was from the National Park Service (NPS) and River Raisin National Battlefield Park, in Michigan!

They were looking for a Centennial Volunteer Ambassador to help recruit, manage, and facilitate volunteers and activities for the National Park Service’s 2016 Centennial Year!

Now, I had never really managed anyone before, although I had been told I have some leadership qualities while doing school projects and volunteering at church. But I decided to give it a whirl(:

It was a super random opportunity that I had to apply to within the day. I remember doing the phone interview with my would-be supervisor, and going to see a Marvel movie at the theater that had already been planned (idk which one it was/: ) and being so distracted about the potential job. I was offered the job a few hours later!

A few weeks later I was shipped out to Las Vegas, NV to a training at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with the other Centennial Volunteer Ambassadors who were headed all over the U.S. and U.S. territories, even to Alaska, Hawaii, and American Samoa!

Fast forward through the summer, and I came back home, went to work arranging events and leading volunteers, until the fall school semester was upon me.

Since I still did not know at the time what I wanted to major in, I decided to finish a general Associate of Science degree, and just took one class a semester throughout the 2016-2017 school year, while I continued working at the park.

One of the highlights of my job at the Battlefield was learning how to write a grant for a free, summer kayaking program based at the park, receiving the funds of $25,000, and putting the program into place and leading the program, where certified volunteer kayak guides took the public out kayaking, and teaching them about the park’s local history.

In total, my internship lasted 15 months, and was a fantastic experience that helped me see what I was interested in, and what I wanted to focus on in life.

I found out that I could handle the administrative and people-side of the job quite well, which showed me that I could handle business interactions. It also brought to light how my fierce desire to graduate debt-free could be part of my career path, since I kept getting so passionate about it while working there.

And the icing on the cake?

The position came with an education award through AmeriCorps, which partnered with the NPS to provide the scholarship funds (if I logged a certain amount of hours). I not only got to save the money I earned during this job, but I got a scholarship, and cemented in my mind what I was truly passionate about!