Occasionally a job application for the NPS will ask for your comp service date. I had no idea what this was until five years ago. As a seasonal, I often don't work fully year round. In the early days I didn't have a winter position. Now, between winter and summer jobs I might have two weeks or a month off. Your comp service date adds all the time you have worked for the NPS and then counts that time back from your current start date for your current position. Clear as murky pond water?
Today, August 28, I celebrate five years of government service. There's a "Five Year" framed certificate. It's taken me eleven years and thirteen seasons with the NPS to reach my five year mark. I know I'm a seasonal, but I'm going to get my framed certificate, I tell you!
I decided to take a stroll through memory lane of my past thirteen seasons. (Note: some of these pictures are repeats from previous posts.)
My first season was at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge, Montana. How I love that place, the people, the town...who knew you could become so attached to a place in such a short amount of time. The main ranch house is pictured below.
My second summer was also spent at Grant-Kohrs Ranch. However, I don't have any work photos but tons of photos from our summer musical "Singin' in the Rain" That's me in the middle.
My third summer was my last in Montana. Again, no work photos but a picture from the dream sequence in "Calamity Jane".
After two years off for grad school I found myself working for Big Thicket National Preserve. I was not at the preserve itself, but working on the Texas A&M campus in the Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, or CESU.
Summer 2010 was spent at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The picture below is me and my parents on the balcony of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse after I had given my full moon lighthouse climb program. That's the moon in the background. Loved that summer on the beach.
Great Basin National Park. Near and dear to my heart Great Basin. What a truly magical place. Wonderful resource, wonderful friends. Sitting on the top of Wheeler Peak my first summer in the park.
At the top of Lincoln Peak my second summer and Great Basin.
I finally landed a winter seasonal position winter 2012-13 at Death Valley National Park, working at Scotty's Castle. Below I'm giving my Castle tour, in costume, and we're in Scotty's room. "Scotty was born in 1872 in the backwoods of Kentucky..."
My ninth season landed me at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Every time I went down (or up) the natural entrance to the cave, I was always overwhelmed by the shear size of the space. Amazing resource.
I returned to Death Valley for season ten. The desert had really grown on me and I find that park absolutely beautiful in its own unique way.
And then came my eleventh season. My dream job, a social scientist position. Oh my, could I be any more thrilled. It was an added bonus it was in Yosemite National Park. I had a truly amazing experience that summer.
The cub reporter was resurrected for a third winter in Death Valley at Scotty's Castle for my twelfth season with the NPS.
Season number thirteen has yet to disappoint thus far. Hard to believe I've been here only four months. It seems so much longer, but in a good way, in a "I belong here" kind of way.
I have been so very blessed to have worked in these wonderful places, interacted with all sorts of visitors, and have made some very dear friends along the way. Here's to eleven five years. Bring on the next five!
