My Summer As An Intern at Begich, Boggs Visitor Center

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SourDough News | October 26, 2015

 

 

On May 7th I was taking a biology final exam at Valparaiso University in Indiana, then two days later I was wandering around the Anchorage airport in Alaska searching for my internship supervisor Lezlie Murray. When I applied for the volunteer interpreter position at Begich, Boggs Visitor Center in Portage Valley I knew I would be learning about the cultural and natural history of Alaska and interacting with visitors. However, I did not really know what being an interpreter meant. I came to understand what an interpreter does after meeting the smartest and most passionate coworkers.

 

Alaska has some of the most beautiful landscapes thanks to all the different environments and ecosystems that exist here. The Chugach National Forest has thousands of glaciers, soaring mountains that come right out of the sea, and the northern most temperate rainforest. That is why people from all over the world come to visit this area. There is so much to learn in the Chugach National Forest and it is our job as interpreters to connect people with the environment and history around them. If anyone asked me a question I could talk their ear off about the glaciers, geology, plants and ice worms of south central Alaska. But the most important thing I learned while working at the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center was not all the facts, but how to act as an intermediary between the environment and the people who visit. Science can be complicated and visitors come from all educational backgrounds with different beliefs and cultures. I learned from the best how to find common ground with others and how to explain the science of the Chugach in the most understandable ways.  

 

Being passionate about the science, I was excited but also nervous to share all the information I learned with others. And together with visitors I would look up questions and think about the environment in various ways that I might not have alone. Every day was a teaching and learning experience for me. That enthusiasm for the topics is important and I have seen that it goes a long way and sticks with people.  It will encourage them to think more about science and the environments around them. There is a quote by Samuel Taylor Coleridge that I think rings true with interpreters, “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm…it is the genius of sincerity, and the truth accomplishes no victories without it.” I was encouraged by my coworkers’ passion for the Chugach. So throughout my summer I tried to show visitors that same passion so they too could see that the environment and science around us is exciting, important and worth experiencing and protecting.  

 

By Beata Ramza, Interpreter at Begich, Boggs Visitor Center