Career Path of a California State Park Interpreter Naturalist at CA State Parks
Michelle's career path was "not very typical," beginning with exploratory studies in science and business communications, including an event planning internship at a nonprofit called Lifewater. This seemingly diverse experience, including "classic like coffee shop jobs," unexpectedly provided a valuable skillset directly applicable to their current role as a California State Park Interpreter, proving that "every single thing" learned along the way proved useful.
Career Exploration, Nonprofit Internship, Event Planning, Business Communications, Transferable Skills
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Michelle Claassen
California State Park Interpreter (Naturalist)
CA State Parks
Cuesta College and Liberty University
Communications
Climate, Environment, Sustainability & Waste Management, Government & Public Sector
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Michelle's career path was non-traditional, starting with exploring various science and business interests in college and community college. She emphasizes that seemingly unrelated experiences, like her internship at a non-profit, unexpectedly became highly relevant to her current role.
2. She worked various jobs (like coffee shops) while exploring her interests before finding her current position with State Parks, highlighting the value of diverse experiences and patience in finding a career fit.
3. Her business communications degree proved unexpectedly useful in her current role, demonstrating that seemingly unrelated fields can contribute valuable skills to a career in natural resource management/interpretation.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college and any internships or jobs you had before your current role?
My career path, out of high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I started at our community college where I just took all the classes I could, trying to figure things out. I had a great interest in sciences and started out as a bio major, but that didn't stick.
I eventually moved on to Liberty University online where I ended up majoring in business communications. Along the lines, I think when I was still at Questa, I did have an internship for a local nonprofit called Lifewater. I was working with their events coordinator because I was really interested in event planning and stuff like that.
I was all over the board, so definitely not a typical path that you would see in my career fields. But every single thing I did, even my internship where I was with Lifewater for a year doing their events, I now use on my job. So I think it's very useful. Business degrees are awesome.
That is my path, not very typical. And then I just had classic coffee shop jobs, just working up until I found my job with state parks.
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