Video
The Youth Conservation Corps at Catoctin Mountain Park
Transcript
If you're between the ages of 15 and 18 and interested in a unique work experience this summer, you need to consider the Youth Conservation Corps at Catoctin Mountain Park. I hope to learn about nature and be able to make more friends. I applied for a program, basically just to get out of the house. If I wasn't here, I'd just be playing video games or something. I did this because I needed a summer job and it sounded interesting. I wanted to work outside this summer. I wanted the job because I had it last year and I just love it. Every summer, national parks across the United States hire youths between the ages of 15 and 18 for the Youth Conservation Corps. This is a program designed to take teens and give them practical experiences that they won't find in other jobs. Along the way, we hope to promote environmental awareness and a love for the outdoors. It teaches us leadership skills. We get a lot done, we transplant trees, we get a lot of thistle and mile-a-minute out. We rebuilt the campsites at Owens Creek Campground with volunteer Bob. We removed old tent pads and tarmac table pads, making everything level and put down new wood chips so they'd be better campsites. It was easy and it was a lot of fun. My favorite project is the retaining wall that we had to build along the sidewalk. We had to take out the old retaining wall. We cut lumber and put it into place and leveled it and then we hammered in rebar with a sledge hammer. My least favorite project was probably hiking Chimney Rock to pull mile-a-minute. Where we had to climb up to Chimney Rock every day carrying gallon water jugs every day. We hiked I guess about a mile up the mountain to pull weeds. I would rather not pull thistle or mile-a-minute or dig holes. Mile-a-minute isn't too bad. You just gets scratches on your arm, but the thistle is pretty bad. I knew we were going to be working outdoors a lot and it's minimum wage. It was basically a lot better than I expected, just talking to people and being with people makes up for working hard itself. I would definitely recommend this job to a friend because you do great environmental education and awareness stuff in the park. I would recommend working for the Park Service as a YCC because it gives you a chance to go outdoors and work and get to know some really interesting people. I didn't feel like I had much to offer, but I can actually work hard. I would enjoy coming back next year to be a part of the YCC because overall the summer was a very good experience. I would come back next year to work at the park because I really liked it and I got a good view of the Park Service and whether or not I wanted to work here. Basically, it makes my day coming here, makes me feel accomplished. If you want a challenging and fulfilling work experience this summer, contact your school counselor this March or call Catoctin Mountain Park at 301-663-9330 for application information. No work experience is necessary.
Description
The 2008 YCC crew shares their thoughts on their experiences in the Youth Conservation Corps program at Catoctin Mountain Park.
Duration
3 minutes, 19 seconds
Credit
NPS
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