Patrick Hair
EnEd 4996 Internship
Recreation – Outdoor Education
September 3, 2007
Glacier National Park Frontline Interpreter Internship
Over the course of the summer I have learned a lot working as an interpreter at Glacier
National Park. The internship has proven to be an intensive and immersive experience into the
field of interpretation at one of our country’s crown jewel parks. I feel the training along with
on-the-job experiences I received in interpretation, have rounded out my education and given
me a foundation for future success in interpretation with the National Park Service or other
agencies/organizations. In the reflection that follows, I will detail some of my experiences at
Glacier Park and explain how they have succeeded in adding to my education at University
Minnesota Duluth (UMD). Additionally, I will make note of some of the training and education I
received at UMD that helped me succeed as an interpreter at Glacier Park. How all of these
experiences will contribute to the profession of outdoor education will be detailed as well.
As an intern applicant with the Student Conservation Association I was put in touch with
Glacier National Park. I accepted the internship position with the park and spent the summer
working as a frontline interpreter. My primary responsibilities were leading interpretive
programs and staffing visitor centers.
I had led programs for the National Park Service at Voyageurs National Park the previous two
summers. During those previous summers, the programs I led were few and far between, were
poorly attended, and, the paddle tours especially, were frequently cancelled on account of poor
weather conditions. My experience was quite the opposite at Glacier. I was responsible for
leading five different programs, leading one and sometimes two programs a day, and only on
one occasion was one of my programs cancelled. This meant from June 24th until September
3rd, I had the opportunity to lead at least one program a day, five days a week. Attendance at
my programs ranged from 1 individual in one instance, to 107 in another. This afforded me an
opportunity to work with a wide range of audiences.
The five programs I led included guided hikes on biodiversity and wildfire, a boat tour on
the general history of Lake McDonald Valley, an evening illustrated program on nighttime
sounds, and an alpine talk on climate change. Of these programs, I found that I enjoyed
presenting the illustrated program and the alpine talk most and I feel I succeeded with these
two programs especially.
For me, being able to talk about anthropogenic climate change in a program was a really big
deal. At Voyageurs I had been warned that it was the park’s position not to bring up climate
change (especially anthropogenic climate change) and if the topic comes up, to speak to both
sides of the issue. The fact that Glacier is among the first of the National Parks to talk directly
and freely about how we affect climate and how climate change is affecting its resources, and
the fact that I got to be among the first interpreters to talk about this issue in a National Park
program dedicated to this issue, was a privilege that I will carry on with me into the future. My
involvement with this topic gave me experience into the realm of “issue interpretation.” It gave
me plenty of experience talking about a topic that has received a lot of attention, and with that,
has been subject to a lot of misinformation. I found that using simple phrases such as “global
warming” would alienate certain visitors. Throughout the summer, I found ways to adapt my
language without circumventing the reality of climate change. Glacier’s stance on climate
change and support for its interpreters allowed me to do so and it was great to be able to speak
truthfully and freely.
When I was not leading talks or guiding hikes, I spent around half of the day staffing a visitor
center. Working the visitor centers was crazy. We were told during training that we would
have around three minutes to spend with each visitor. This was no lie. From the moment I
walked behind the information desk I would be assisting visitors until the moment I was
relieved by another staff member. I worked the centers for typically 3.5 hours straight. By the
end, my voice would be gravely and I would feel stupefied from answering the same
assortment of questions over and over. Though I understand its importance, I could do without
this part of the job. I found the experience to be something of an onslaught, and felt we spent
too little time training (and no time shadowing) to be thrown into this high-stress position
without much support.
I did, however, from these experiences learn more about myself as an interpreter, especially
how I interpret with visitors at visitor centers. I completed research on informal visitor contacts
and submitted informal contact logs for the park’s Interpretive Development Program (IDP). In
fulfilling these tasks, I found out quite a bit about myself as an informal interpreter (see the
discussion section of the research).
In addition to submitting the visitor contact logs for certification, I also submitted videos of
my alpine talk, illustrated program, and a guided hike (see IDP Assessment Rubrics). Having the
opportunity to pursue certification in these areas is something that will benefit me in a future
career with the park service. Glacier is very much an “IDP park” and the training I received was
from some of the leading interpreters in the country.
With these experiences, some exciting and some a bit harder to endure, I feel I was able to
get plenty of “real world” experience with audiences that varied and whose dynamics were
hard to anticipate. In class, we always seem to know who our audience is going to be, whether
it is our peers or a community group. This is in no way the case at National Parks and I feel
getting thrown into some situations and being flexible enough to survive is the result of a good
foundation in outdoor education, interpretation, and leading and working with people in
general. I worked with many other interns who were, more or less, biology students with no
teaching experience who were thrown into leading groups and being up in front of the public.
They were scared out of their minds to be interpreting to so many people right off the bat.
From the experiences leading peers and leading various community groups in and around UMD,
I felt I was able to adjust easily to the stressful experience of public-speaking.
Interpretation at our National Parks fills an essential role under the outdoor education
umbrella. Parks like Glacier are some of the most intact ecosystems in the world and there is
plenty to learn in these locations, plenty to be inspired by, and plenty of resources that need to
be protected – and educating the public about these places is the key to preserving them.
To sum up my experience working at the park this summer, I recall some of the many times
I was interviewed by Jr. Rangers. To earn their badges they needed to interview a ranger and
each day I was asked what it was that I do to help protect the park. My quick answer was that I
educated visitors about the park so that they will understand how they can help take care of
the park. In a nutshell that is how I spent my summer.