30 May Interning a 5-minute walk from the Grand Canyon!

Hello everyone! My name is Dumari De Leon and this summer I will be working as the Don’t Feed the Landfill intern for the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona! A little about me is that I am a rising Junior at Rice University and I’m from San Antonio, Texas. 

I was super nervous and excited to land in Arizona since I had never been to this amazing National Park before. I got to spend my first day celebrating my birthday by exploring the trails on the rim of the canyon. It is absolutely stunning and I was in utter shock to find out that my home was just a mere 5-minute walk from one of the most famous viewings! It is as huge as you would imagine it to be! 

Living at the canyon is an experience too! The village is small, but mighty with everyone waving hi to you the second they see you passing by. My supervisor is the sweetest person ever too! She is an environmental protection specialist and I’ll be sure to write more about her soon. We will be working together on starting up a composting program with the local grand canyon school. We will also be trying to redesign the park’s sustainability initiatives and will make sure to bring you guys along the way as we figure everything out! Don’t worry, I have been doing A TON of research on composting in preparation :D.

I’m also discovering some things I did not expect at the canyon. They have a tremendous amount of Elk roaming around and they are HUGE. I am keeping my distance from fear and safety, but they are quite majestic. There are nice little sweet spots to see the canyon and animals too, so if you ever go I’ll be sure to tell you!

See you guys again soon!

~ Dumari