15 Jul An Early End: What I’ve Done and Where I’m Going

I can’t believe this is my last week as a National Park Service intern! The summer has gone by so quickly and everything feels bittersweet. One thing I know for sure is that I am incredibly grateful to have been given the chance to complete projects for America’s national parks and the Latino community. 

My summer at the National Park Service has given me some amazing opportunities! I was given the responsibility of creating the official National Park Service communications for Latino Conservation Week. It was a challenge, but I’ve never felt so accomplished. I helped to renovate the NPS Latino Conservation Week website, wrote a communications and guidance plans for all of the national parks, and even wrote articles for both the external and internal website. My favorite project was developing posts for the National Park Service social media accounts, which will continue to be updated throughout Latino Conservation Week. 

I also had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of debriefing NPS’ Acting Deputy Director, David Vela, about my Latino Conservation Week projects. He was very interested in learning how the National Park Service is reaching out to the Latino community and loved the work that I completed! 

To wrap up my summer experience in Washington, D.C., I decided to take a trip to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Besides my Office of Communications projects, I also worked with the Office of International Affairs to write short articles on World Heritage sites within the United States. Having the chance to visit a World Heritage site in person, and visit the home of Thomas Jefferson, was something I will never forget. 

Although this summer is sadly coming to a close, I am extremely excited for where I am going next! I am pleased to announce that I received a job on Facebook’s Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Communications Team starting this July. I am incredibly grateful for the experiences that the National Park Services has given me over the past two months and I know that I wouldn’t have had this opportunity without the skills I have gained this summer.

I also would like to say thank you to the wonderful staff in the Office of Communications and the Office of International Affairs for being so supportive during this transitional time in my life! A special thanks to my supervisor, Kendra Collat, and my office’s HBCUI intern, Kayla Diallo, for making my time in D.C. fantastic. And a special thank you to the team at Hispanic Access for everything you do!