On any given day Penn State student Cassidy Crawford is responsible for opening and closing a visitor center and all things in between at Jenny Lake - Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
“I spend time behind the Jenny Lake Visitor Center desk answering questions about the trail system, wildflowers, wildlife, and geology,” Crawford said. “I also spend time developing programs and studying the ecology and natural history.”
As an intern through the Penn State Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Crawford is responsible for four formal programs at Grand Teton:
· a 1-mile guided hike to Hidden Falls where along the way she teaches about the geology of Grand Teton National Park;
· a bear safety program, where participants learn how to keep themselves and the bears safe in the park while recreating;
· a young naturalist program, where children and their parents learn the basics on natural history and ecology; and
· a Lakeshore Conversations program, a facilitated dialog program encouraging visitors to get involved with the Find Your Park initiative.
“When I am not behind the desk or leading programs I can be patrolling the grounds answering questions and helping visitors or helping wildlife management with a black bear in the Jenny Lake Campground,” Crawford said. “I am learning how to connect to visitors and in turn help visitors connect to this amazing natural resource. I am learning a lot about myself as a teacher, as well as able to explore and learn about the ecology here in the park.”
Several Recreation, Park and Tourism Management courses prepared Crawford for this opportunity, including Recreation Resource Planning and Management, RPTM 320, instructed by department head Peter Newman.
Additionally, through Penn State courses affiliated with Shaver's Creek Environmental Center in State College, Pennsylvania, Crawford learned how to interpret the natural world as well as handle visitors’ motivations to a natural area like Grand Teton National Park.
“I have already been able to analyze myself as a teacher and communicator,” Crawford said. “Spending so much time with the public has also improved my public speaking skills and presentation techniques. I also hope to network throughout the park, making valuable connections with co-workers and administrators. I could not be more grateful to be in the position I am, and to get such an amazing internship with so many opportunities.”
Following graduation, Crawford hopes to earn a master’s degree and work for the National Park Service.
For Justin Haug, who graduated from Penn State in December 2013, one visit to Yosemite National Park while he was serving in the U.S. Navy determined his career path.
“From that point on I knew I wanted pursue a career giving back to these incredible places,” Haug said.
After completing his military service as an information technician, which included deployments for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Haug began studying recreation, park and tourism management at Penn State.
As a pre-internship, he served as a wildland firefighter in the Black Hills of South Dakota before interning at Grand Teton.
“I had backpacked through Grand Teton in years prior and it was a magical place located next to a pretty interesting town, Jackson. It just so happens that Yellowstone is only 25 miles north of Grand Teton. Talk about an added bonus,” Haug said.
Haug, who is currently a graduate student at Texas A&M University, is now in his third season at Grand Teton. After his first season as an intern, Andrew Langford, Jenny Lake District interpreter, hired Haug as an Interpretive National Park Ranger.
“Once I was offered the position over the phone, my boss asked me if I needed a few days to think about the offer. I was so excited that I accepted the position on the spot,” Haug. “As soon as I got off of the phone I started jumping up and down on my bed like an overly excited child. That was one of the happiest days of my life.”
Grand Teton National Park sees roughly 3 million visitors a year, with 90 percent visiting during the summer. The Jenny Lake Visitor Center sees thousands of visitors daily.
Crawford and Haug hold similar positions in the park. Each work as interpretive park rangers, meaning they are responsible for staffing the information desk in the visitor center. They also research and prepare ranger-led programs, from guided hikes to children’s programs, and patrol the Jenny Lake Campground to educate campers about proper food storage and bear safety.
“Bears are a common occurrence on the trails, with any typical day having one or more bears, mostly black bears, on the trails, in the campground or right outside the visitor center,” Langford said. “Justin and Cassidy are both always eager to help with this duty. Many interns have left at the end of the summer saying ‘this was the best summer of my life,’ and I expect this to be the case with both Justin and Cassidy.”
Langford said he is consistently impressed with the quality of interns he hires from Penn State.
“They have an excellent understanding of interpretive principals and experience through the program conducting interpretive programs for park visitors,” Langford said.