What We Learned from Nature and the Naturalists: Summer Seasonals 2022
By London Craddock
Working as a seasonal naturalist at the Warner Parks Nature Center over the last two summers has changed me. The slightly awkward, future-insecure kid I remember from a little over a year ago is now a more confident young adult and a committed environmentalist. My fellow seasonals have grown as well. Here’s what we learned.
Paige Range, a rising senior at Hillwood high school, feels far more comfortable in nature than when she started.
“If I was even 50 feet within a snake I’d want to leave […] and then the other day, when we were searching the river, one of the people came back and they were like ‘there’s a snake sitting on a rock,’ and I immediately got up and wanted to go see it,” she said.
This kind of curiosity and enthusiasm is consistently modeled by the full-time naturalists on staff, and it is essential to our effectiveness as facilitators of natural experiences.
“The biggest thing I learned,” Paige said, “was how to […] make really fun, interactive programs. […] If people are excited about nature, then they’ll keep coming back, and that’s how you can really stick the information in.”
Gurnoor Majhail, a rising sophomore at Duke University, agrees with Paige, but they emphasize that this approach brings joy and fulfillment to their own life as well.
“Curiosity and wonder have been the big [values I’ve been focusing on] for this past year or so, and working here, I experience them every day,” said Gurnoor. “I love that we get to help other people experience such wonder […] outside and […] in nature. For example, at the beginning of the [PEN Pals] day, some of [the kids] are super into bugs and some of them are like ‘Ewww,’ and I think it’s so fun when, by the end of the day, they’re tapping on my shoulder and they’re like ‘Gurnoor, come look at this bug, it’s so cool!’ It’s just like that small pocket of happiness and joy that they find and that curiosity […] that maybe otherwise they wouldn’t have had. [It’s] such a gift to […] able to share that and to feel like I have an impact in a way that I want to.”
Evidently, this job involves a great deal of interaction with the public and teamwork with fellow staff. Linnea Lyons, a rising senior at Belmont University, feels that her two summers here have increased her social confidence.
“Before I worked this job in college, I didn’t talk to people, I didn’t network,” she said. I feel like this job taught me how to communicate […] in a team setting and be more confident and open-minded around other people. Teamwork is so powerful and it’s really so efficient—that’s probably the biggest thing I learned.”
I had a similar experience, as did Austin Anderson, a rising freshman at Eckerd College. However, he also appreciates that we were given opportunities to pursue individual projects and plan our own programs.
“I feel like my skills working with other people in general have grown,” Austin said. “The whole way that we have the seasonal program set up, where you work on your own thing for a while and then come back and work with others, was really great. […] It gave me an opportunity to work on both how I do things [independently and] how [I can] take what I’m good at and supplement what others are good at.”
Even with abundant planning, unexpected challenges arise, and Bekah Truss, a rising senior at St. Louis University, says her experience here has taught her to embrace them.
“This summer and last summer, I’ve learned that it’s okay to not plan things all the way out, like when we had to plan [an] Explore with a Naturalist in like an hour,” she said. “That was a good experience because I wanted to think about it more, I wanted to have more time to plan it, but it turned out okay. And during the field trips, when [the groups] didn’t show up on time, and with PEN Pals—just being able to adapt and respond to things as they change […] is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned here.”
It's safe to say that the nature of the work, the culture our bosses work hard to create, and the park itself have helped all of us grow. I want to extend my gratitude to all of the organisms of Warner Park (including the people!) for watering the soil of our budding adult selves this summer.
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