ode to summer part 3: the uniform

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August 26, 2013 by Caity Stuart

This summer was unique in many ways.

One of the biggest reasons for its unconventional nature was that I was returning to the National Park Service but, technically, as a volunteer. Although I had already had a total of almost 2 full years of paid interpretation experience, I had yet to have any experience working at a park focused on the natural environment. For that reason alone, I was OK with donning the bright baby-blue volunteer polo for work every day. Not optimal but hopefully this humbling act would bring me the great experience I was looking for.

And it did.

In fact, it brought be even more experience than I was expecting! Below I’ve compiled a list of the different programs I got to conduct/lead/write this summer. Each one brought its own challenges and certainly helped me to grow in many ways. But let’s be honest…I of course liked some way more than others. Keep reading and see if you can figure out which ones those were:

Clamming

This was a hands-on program where I got to teach the visitors how to catch the Quahog clam and their bi-valve cousin, the mussel. I would chat with them for about 10 minutes sharing some background info on these creatures (ask me about the origin of wampum and I’ll get super excited…), share the details on how to best find a clam, and then release the visitors in the bay to try their own hand at catching clams. What a great way to (literally) get your feet wet with the resource and to discover on your own the many intricacies of the bay! My favorite story surrounding this program was when my dear friend, Beth, came to visit and, while attending my program and searching for her own clam, asked something to the effect of with all of these new skills just how many clams had I caught to date. I do believe I answered, “none.” Beth, a fellow interpreter at Fredericksburg, gasped in disbelief and then began her infamous chuckling as she realized the art of interpretation I had been applying to all of my programs. 😉

Crabbing

My “bro” Caiti caught a keeper!

Same idea to the clamming program only this time, well, you guessed it. I would talk about the Calinectus sepidus (Maryland Blue crab) and the many “clues” it left us to better learn how to catch it and then provide visitors with the supplies, namely the hook and bait, to catch their own. NOTE: the bait of choice for catching crabs is uncooked Chicken necks. I repeat – chicken necks. Yes, the vegetarian here was cutting up and hooking raw chicken necks daily. Thank you.

My favorite part of this program was getting to witness when visitors would catch a crab for the first time. Typically this program was PACKED, attracting on average a crowd of about 60 or so. That meant that we only had enough materials for one per family.

String? check. Weights? Check. Chicken neck? Check. Looks like we’re going crabbing!

You would normally see either on the kids or the dad hunched over the pier with their line and hook slowly reeling it in while another family member eagerly awaited next to them with the net, ready to quickly scoop up the wriggling crab. It was at this point in the program that I simply walked around waiting to be of service when I would hear a “I got one! Ahhh!!!” and everybody ran forth to ohhh and awwwww! at the catch. It was like magic.

Aquarium Talk

This was a 30 minute program that we would provide at the visitor center with the sole attempt at stringing together the lives of different creatures that lived on the island. While it was great that we had free reign to choose which specific creatures to focus on and why, to me it was quite overwhelming given that I was walking into these many different ecosystems blindly. I’m not sad to say g’bye to this program.

Creature Feature

Similar to the aquarium talk, this program was at the visitor center as well only it was 15 minutes in length and focused on one creature. My creature of choice?

Horseshoe Crab

The horseshoe crab. I have never even heard of these things let along seen them before I got to Assateague and let me tell you…I am now in love with them! What cool creepy crawly creatures these are! I would talk about how they are some of the oldest living species still on the planet (~450 million years old). Any excuse I could get to talk about history, right?

The Boathouse

Which leads me to an absolute favorite of mine: The US Life Saving Service (USLSS) Boathouse. This was an historic structure left on the island that once housed boats used by the USLSS during the years of 1883-1915. This

“You must go out, but you don’t have to come back.”

was a chance to do informal interpretation so I didn’t organize a specific program rather I did what I love to do most at parks: have conversations with visitors about why this portion of history and worth-while. Like the Civilian Conservation Corps, this group of rag-tag men is a story not often distributed but of great heroism and devotion. I was honored and thrilled that I got to interpret history some this summer.

Bay Discovery

This was another hands on program that took place at, go figure, the Bay! We would talk to the visitors for about 5-10 minutes about what they might find but then turn the rest of the program over them with both small and large nets. We would then have small tanks for the visitors to put whatever they caught into so that we could get a better look at the creatures. After about 20 minutes or so of exploring we would then talk about the critters. I always enjoyed getting to play in the water and, like the crabbing demonstration, be there when visitors got overjoyed with what they caught. I was typically nervous, however, for this because you just never knew what you’d find and, knowing me, I was way behind on my knowledge of critters in the bay! Luckily I mastered a few and those were the dominant ones that were caught. Nonetheless, it was always a treat to enable this form of discovery for visitors.

Barrier Island Biking

Yep, loved this one. How’d ya guess? 1 hour, on a bike, as a tour of the island? Talking about history? Totally in love with this one. I could have led a 2-3 hour tour and been happy.

Dusk Walk on the Beach 

Not only did we lead a tour of the Beach, but we led it as the sun was setting. While for many this is simply a beautiful time of day, for me it is a loaded time at a very metaphorical location…everything was crepuscular. While I was bummed to be missing out on the beginnings of that evenings activities at housing (to be talked about in the next post), I was alway thrilled to lead this tour. The visitors who came were very intentional and eager to explore. We would talk about island roll-over and development, get dirty in the sand, collect seashells, and of course end by playing in the water. Beautiful!

Kayaking

My “bro” Erin giving a brilliant kayak program

This is exactly what it sounds like and I loved every minute of it. We led a 2 hour kayaking program in the Bay and it was absolutely beautiful. You mean, I got to ride a kayak, lead a tour, and play in the Bay all in one program?! YES! Wow, one of my all-time tours to give.

 

Puppet Show

I saved the best for last. Let me tell you. I was not expecting to like this part of the job as much as I did. But when myself and my best friends were behind the screen (which happened a LOT), we would be a riot! With the help of one of my best buds from the summer, Erin, we wrote a new script to loosely follow when behind the screen. Our puppets of choice: Clam (claudia), Ranger Muppet (Roxie), Scate (Sawyer), Baby and Momma horse (Frank and Momma), Mosquito (Margot), and the Seahorse (can’t remember his name). And naturally each of those characters had brilliant voices.

Best summer friends, aka “bros,” Erin and Caiti and I with a brilliant performance of a puppet show!

My favorites? Claudia the clam and Frank’s mom. And of course, if you’re behind a screen like that with your best friends acting ridiculous, you’re bound to bust out laughing in the middle of the act. Click on this link to take a look!

It wasn’t just these programs that consisted of my job but they were a whole heck of a lot. I had the good fortune of working with summer school groups of all ages as well as working at the visitor center desk helping visitors with general information. All in all, while it was a lot of work and I had a huge learning curve in front of me, I had an absolute blast during all of it!!