20 Jun A week at the National Park Service Centennial Office

I’m currently on my third week of the internship.  I have been enjoying my time both at work and exploring the city.  There’s so much I want to see and do while I’m here.  At work I’m familiarizing myself with the language and background information that comes along with working for a federal agency. It can be intimidating at times but I have been soaking in all the new information.  My supervisor and all the NPS staff at the Centennial Office have been very helpful and nice. I’m working on several different projects but the one that is on top of my list is developing informational guides for the various youth programs and internships that National Park Service offers.  A continuing goal for the centennial is to prepare tomorrow’s conservation leaders and we want to make sure young adults are aware of the various internships, jobs, and volunteer programs that NPS has.  I personally did not know about all the diverse programs and internships that NPS offers for students as young as 14 to as old as 35, until I started researching for this project.  I’m glad I get to help on this project because I want to make sure other Latin0s and minorities like myself are informed about the opportunities that are out their for them.  I’m interested in knowing how each of you heard about LHIP or if any of you have participated in other NPS programs and how did you hear about them?  I heard about the LHIP internship via a school wide email that I’m registered for, that goes out to Latino students at my university with updates on jobs, volunteer work, and career counseling.  Last week, I met with other interns from various other programs to discuss how we can improve on the already existing youth programs website and we will continue to meet in order to create more relevant outreach materials. I also got to attend two different events this week.  The first was the Southeast Tourism Society meeting on Capitol Hill.  My supervisor gave a presentation on the impact of the NPS Centennial campaign and there was a discussion with the Southeast Tourism Society on how they have been using the centennial campaign to promote the parks in their areas.  As someone who is fairly new, it was great to see how excited this tourism society was for the centennial. The last event I attended this week was the Secretary of the Interior’s Historic Preservation Awards ceremony.  Myself and three other interns from different programs were chosen to present awards to individuals who have promoted preservation within their respective fields.  At this event I met a fellow LHIP intern, Joyska, and we were both introduced to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.  It was really awesome to meet a member of President Obama’s cabinet.  I’ve enjoyed the diversity of things I have gotten to partake in so far.