On the Job

The latest trend on some of my social media posts lately has been "love my job". I love how I have the opportunity to be involved with so many different programs and activities at the Park. I am loving a lot of things about my job, but before I continue on that track I want to take a little time to discuss my career "change".

Why did I put "change" in quotation marks? Taking this job as an outdoor educator really wasn't a career change for me, it is a career that I have not really given up on pursuing ever since I returned from my year in American Samoa. During that year as a high school science teacher, I learned that I really do have a passion for education; yet, I realized that I felt my niche was more in the field of environmental and outdoor education. I envied the National Park Rangers that worked in the Interpretation and Education Division that I worked with on many projects during the second semester. I know my students heard me say it plenty of times that it was one of my dreams to grow up one day and do things like Ranger Pa'i. 

Before moving back to the States, I spent a lot of time searching for and applying to jobs in the environmental education field. I went through a handful of phone interviews, but many of the positions I were applying for were very short-term and the timing did not seem to be right.

I moved to Omaha and started working by the deadline I had set up for myself on when I needed to start earning a paycheck even if the career path I had in mind had not materialized yet. That day came near the end of July, and I truly feel life held me in the Omaha-Lincoln area for good reasons. I had the pleasure of living with Miss Mary for a few months, where we were both good for each other. I also was able to live close to some of my good friends for a while.

Speaking of good friends... one reason I think nursing became a potential career in my mind was to help push me to take the job working at the assisted living in Syracuse, NE. I met a lot of great people there, including many I worked with on a daily basis. I learned a lot from them, and I am glad I had the opportunity to work with them. The residents added joy and insight to my life. Syracuse, NE was a good stay along my journey.

That job led me to living with two of the greatest friends I have - Karena and Andy. Living with the two of them was a really good thing for me at the place I was at in my life, and our paths were meant to cross in that manner for a while. Now that we may be a few hours apart, we still communicate regularly, and when I do see Karena it is like no serious time has passed in between. It's nice to have good friends like that in life, and I am blessed and thankful to know her. Living together also ended up sending us on a great weeklong trip together in California, as you may have read about in a recent post.

In the past few years after my experience in American Samoa I have never stopped looking for a job like I now have at Ponca State Park. I may have felt like I hit roadblocks from time to time after spending a few weeks and months applying for jobs to no avail, but I kept coming back to it. I was beyond elated the day I received the offer for the outdoor educator position at the Park, and it is going to be another great adventure I can add to the books and start building on the career.

People always say you have to do what makes you happy... Well, I like to think that you have to do whatever feels right, and don't let anyone else ever tell you different. It's nice to have support from others, but in the end you know where your heart is and what role you are meant to play in the present time. Life currently has me living in the small town of Ponca, NE working as an educator at one of the great State Parks.

This week we received a phone call from a troop leader that has brought some of his boys up to the park for various activities, and he was hoping we could put together a little program on some trees for the boys on Sunday. I volunteered to come in on Sunday as my partner lives a bit out of town. She asked if I was okay about doing it on my own, and I said "no problem". Before delving too far into my books (as I am no tree expert), I went to check out the trail the group leader had asked to explore. This led me to see the Old Oak Tree. Headed down a flight of wooden steps...

Brought my books along with me, so I could figure out what trees were in this particular area...

And spent some time studying around this bur oak. The Old Oak Tree is around 370 years old. This is one of the oldest trees in the park. I took some field notes on the tree, drew myself a little map of the trail, and started thinking about how I wanted to involve the little boys in some tree identification out here.

My favorite view was looking up at the sky through the trees, as you can see in this photo:

The leaves really changed colors fast and dropped like flies this week. At the beginning of the week, many colors of fall surrounded you on a drive, and today many of the leaves are now brown laying on the ground. Still a fun place to be.

My dad had mentioned that he wanted to see a photo of my "office" window. I don't really have an office, but my partner and I do share a desk in our classroom in the Education and Resource  Center.

This is the view out our northern window:

This is a view just outside the door from the animal room:

Not too shabby. Pretty cool getting to come to work every day at this beautiful place.

One night when I was driving back home from an errand trip in Sioux City, I witnessed some interesting clouds. The sunset colors were also beginning to set in, and I decided to head into the park to take a photo by the river. Sure am glad I did that. It was well worth it.

One of the programs I have the privilege of working with is at the archery range in our shooting complex. During the fall season, the educators spend a couple hours every Saturday down at the archery range (weather permitting), where the public can come use our equipment. Sarah and I went out the day before, so I could hear the spiel and check out our equipment for myself.

After a few rounds, we agreed it was pretty relaxing - sliding an arrow out of the quiver, placing it in the bow, squaring up, pulling back, resting on your face, releasing, listening to the arrow sail through the air, and smiling when you hear the pop as it lands in a target. Love my job!

Here's a shot of the range itself. The targets are all movable, and we add some 3-D targets as we please. They sure are fun to transport. haha The archery range is open to the public at any time if they have their own equipment, but to use our equipment guests come when we are at the station.

The fall leaves make it a bit more difficult to find the arrows that miss the target, but you do end up with some fun leaf shish kabobs:

After work on Friday, I took a little bike ride from my apartment to the public library in town. Gold mine! A beautiful building with a decent selection, and I can bring my laptop up there to access the Internet. This will come in handy for my blog posting, as I am currently only using Internet from my phone at the apartment. I'm a penny pincher when I can be. It's a relaxing atmosphere, too. I can definitely see myself spending some time up here each week. Gotta love a good library. :-)

Then, Miss Karena Danner paid me a visit. She had been in Sioux Falls most of the week for a work conference. She had never been to this park before, so I gave her my little tour. While we were spending some time at the river overlook, she kept saying she could sit here all day and have a book with her. I could not agree more.

She spent the night, and we had fun catching up on the whole week we had been apart. Haha Before you knew it, we were both about ready to fall asleep on the couch.

Saturday morning was the first normal program day I worked at the Park. During the summer we will have programs every day of the week, but we currently plan public programs for Saturdays. As I mentioned before, we were setting up for Saturday morning archery. A few families spent some time with us at the range having a great time. The parents even took a few shots after their kids. It was fun to watch some of them cheer when they would hit a target, and I think one of their favorite parts may have been looking for the arrows out in the range. Love my job!

That afternoon we then spent some time back in our classroom for a few crafts. We made some magic wands just like a wizard or witch from our own sticks and a few crafting supplies. We also created some authentic looking potion bottles from recycled jars and bottles. Love my job!

To end our fun-filled Saturday, we held a little "Critter Corner" where we showed and talked about some of the animals in our education center. I helped hold a few, while Sarah did most of the talking this time. I wanted to get a feel for the way she does a program. I did many programs like this while a student at Morningside College, where I worked with our Creature Outreach Program. That was one of my favorite things to be involved with while a student. It is pretty incredible to share some of this love and curiosity for the natural world with young minds and get them excited about some of it.

Here I am holding Rosita, our rose-haired tarantula. Just like the good 'ole days with Creature Outreach. Love my job!

I was able to sleep in Sunday, which was nice to help get over a head cold I've had. A combination from some of my seasonal allergies (hello, harvest), changing environments (definitely more trees up here), and who knows what else. First cold I've had in a few years, though. Hasn't slowed me down too much at work, though.

Sunday afternoon I headed in for a few hours to take the Webelos from the scout troop I mentioned earlier. Together, we hiked part of the Old Oak Trail, talked about how important trees are, what we do here at the park, took notes and identified some trees, and asked some questions. We had a good little hour together, and I was pretty excited about doing my first solo program.

In our education center I found this quote on the wall, and I shared it on the back of the little "Field Note" booklets I made for the boys to use on our little educational hike.

"Be a gentle friend to trees, 

and they will give you back beauty,

 cool and fragrant shade,

 and many birds, singing."

I love sparking questions and curiosity in the kids. Being an outdoor educator is all about sharing an interest and appreciation in nature while encouraging and sparking curiosity in others about the world around them.

Have a great week everyone! Sending you my love from Ponca!