13 Jul Greetings From Indiana Dunes – Yahel Delgado-Diaz

Hello there! My name is Yahel Delgado Díaz, I’m from a rural town in Puerto Rico called Utuado. I’m a senior and my major is Education at the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo. Which is why I applied to the Education and Outreach assistant at the Indiana Dunes National Park where I am an Environment for the Americas intern this summer.

The Park I’m working in specializes in creating programs for children to educate about nature and biodiversity as well as dune conservation. An interesting fact is that this park is one of the smaller ones in the NPS, however has a rich biodiversity classified as 7th most diverse park in the nation!

During our programs, I’m introduced as the Latino Heritage Program intern for Environment for the Americas. This is very important, as diverse kids see someone like me is working alongside the NPS. We then proceed give information on common wildlife you can find here like skunks, beavers, coyotes, foxes, rabbits and otters. We do this in an interactive fashion and promoting inclusion in participation. Recently I was trained to do the pond study where I show how to look for larvae and insects in the water. One of my favorite trainings was the Audubon survey with the Audubon society in the park. I have a bit of a birding background, and I have enjoyed seeing other species so different from the Caribbean.

You may gather I hit the ground running and I’m happy to say I did my first program solo this past week with a group of Scouts of America. It was a very satisfying feeling to end a productive and educational day here in Indiana Dunes National Park!