A Day In The Life Of A California State Park Interpreter At CA State Parks
A California State Park Interpreter's workday varies greatly depending on the season; during the school year, the mornings are filled with "leading school tours," while afternoons involve visitor center duties and event planning. Summers bring a shift to managing "summer programming," including junior ranger programs, often held outdoors in locations like "the sand dunes," and collaboration with other park departments.
Education, Environmental Science, Outdoor Recreation, Public Speaking, Event Planning
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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. The daily routine varies between the school year and summer, offering diverse experiences.
2. During the school year, mornings are filled with school tours, while afternoons involve visitor center duties and event planning.
3. Summer involves managing summer programs, training seasonal staff, and leading junior ranger programs in both the mornings and afternoons, often outdoors in various locations like campgrounds and sand dunes, providing opportunities for collaboration with other park departments like lifeguards and rangers.
Transcript
What does the day in the life of a California State Parks interpreter look like?
One reason I love my job is that every day is pretty different. There are two main typical days that happen at different parts of the year. During the school year, we have one schedule, and then it changes in the summer.
During the school year, most mornings are taken up by leading school tours. This includes second graders in our butterfly grove when the monarchs migrate to us in the wintertime. We also have a third-grade program for our Northern Chumash education.
In the afternoons, I might be staffing our visitor center or working on planning for upcoming events. I also accumulate social media posts for the week and plan that out on our calendar.
During the summer, my role shifts into managing our summer programming and making sure our seasonal staff are trained. We have junior ranger programs and campfire programs. Junior ranger programs run in the mornings, similar to our school year tours.
The summer junior ranger programs are in the mornings, and we're out in the field in our campgrounds. We also have junior ranger programs out in the field on the sand dunes. I am at Oceano Dunes District, so Pismo State Beach and Oceano Dunes.
The afternoon is similar to the rest of the year, perhaps staffing our visitor center. We work with other departments in our district. I help with our lifeguards, maybe teaching at their junior guard program or helping rangers with other things. Every summer is even more outdoors than during the school year, so it's pretty fun.
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