Alex- Zion- Day One

Our first day began with meeting Michelle, the volunteer coordinator at Zion National Park, who gave us a brief overview of how essential volunteers are to keep the park running and safety measures we needed to take while working. We also met three other park rangers, Barb, who is in charge of the junior ranger program at the park, and Sarah and Christopher, who run Zion's social media as well as create the graphics and signs displayed around. Our first volunteer task of our Alternative Break was to clean out the basement of Zion's Nature Center. The nature center is Barb's, and the junior ranger program's, headquarters at the park. We cleaned out and moved around a bunch of random items, as well as throwing out unwanted trash. After making space in the basement, four of our group members remained behind with Barb to build new shelves. The rest of the group, including me, went with Sarah and Christopher to restock shelves in a warehouse with boxes filled with the brochures and newspapers that the park hands out to each visitor. After our work with the rangers, we had a few hours left of daylight, so we took the time to go on a hike of the Emerald Pools.

While cleaning out the basement seems like it was unimportant, Barb was continuously giving us thanks because she needed the space to store her supplies for the junior ranger program. This was a job that needed to be done to get ready for the busy spring and summer season at the park. Throughout the week, our tasks as volunteers were fairly simple, and the main goal of them was to help prepare for the season, saving time for the rangers. It was also interesting  to talk to Christopher and Sarah because they are not the typical park ranger. We were also able to learn throughout the week where each ranger started out. For example, Christopher was a history major, and began his process of becoming a park ranger by volunteering with national parks.