09 Jul A Spider Web of Collaboration

Hello all,

Consider for a moment if you’ve ever attended an outreach event of any kind, perhaps a camp, workshop, convention or a festival?

Now estimate the number of people if took to put the event together.  You’ll probably want to multiply that number by 10 to get an accurate estimate. 

This past week, I worked on finalizing a press release for the Westwood Summer Camp that takes place here in Denver. The camp sessions take place every Monday this summer for the youth in the Westwood neighborhood. Next Monday, I will be collaborating with fellow LHIP interns, Kevin and Alejandro, from Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and Rocky Mountain National Park respectively, to put on a National Park Service (NPS) outreach session teaching kids about wildlife in parks and the opportunities they have to visit.

This camp is funded by Great Outdoors Colorado, which provided a grant to Denver Parks & Recreation. Denver P&R then worked with community leaders in Westwood to host a handful of local, outdoor recreation and environmental groups to put on outreach events for the kids. My involvement in the camp alone is facilitated by the NPS, the Hispanic Access Foundation (HAF), and Environment for the Americas!  To top it off, this event is a part of Latino Conservation Week, an HAF initiative to support the Latino community getting into the outdoors and participating in activities to protect our natural resources (if you processed all of that in one reading, I applaud you). Writing the press release required contact with communications representatives from each organization and clarification of everyone’s role.  Being a rookie in the communications department, I found it challenging to write something that was concise enough to make sense, but detailed enough to make sure everyone was well represented.

Regardless, I like knowing that dozens of people have had their hand in putting on this camp, no matter how much or how little that influence may be, and that the kids who attend the camp will reap the benefits of all this teamwork.  I am also grateful that my supervisor, Vanessa Lacayo, allows me to work on a project like this, because there is no guarantee that a media group will even pick up the story. Still, she brings the same amount of quality to press releases regardless of how big the news is.

This past week I also continued work on a webpage for the NPS Intermountain Region intranet, updated a document summarizing legislative action, and met with an employee in the planning department.

I would advise the intern who gets to work here at the Intermountain Regional Office next year to reach out to people who work in different divisions!  I haven’t been turned away when asking to meet with someone to ask about their career and role in the NPS.  I have received a lot of clarification on what it takes to become employed by the NPS and have gotten exposure to careers that I never knew would interest me.

And, as for the pictures…proof I still find my way out of the office on the weekends! I took these at St. Mary’s Lake/Glacier.  Places like these are humbling and demand respect.  I was so charmed by the views and the chance to play in the snow that it took a thunderstorm that rolled in and pelted me with hail to remind me that these places are still wild and sometimes dangerous.

Looking forward to next week’s event