Summer Internship!

During the past 3 months or so, I've been busily working at refining my resume and writing cover letter after cover letter. While work is hard to find in Leadville, summer internships abound for Historic Preservation students.

I found some really interesting opportunities all over the country. With my humanitarian work and administrative background, I had a leg up on the college students without much 'real life' experience. But on the other hand, my lack of hands-on experience and only one year of classes put me at a disadvantage.

Honestly I was pretty worried about getting a internship that would really challenge my trade skills (or lack there of). It appears that most of the students that apply for these internships are graduate level students. When I started looking at all of the opportunities, they were overwhelming. The National Park Service and the National Council of Preservation Education had about 42 different opportunities, then their were about 10 or so private organizations that I seriously considered. Including this fascinating position that I really wanted...Faith & John Gaw Meem Preservation Trades Internship...http://historicsantafe.org. This internship works with earthen architecture in Santa Fe New Mexico. These are mostly Native American buildings built in the original earthen style. Talk about inexpensive and energy effecient, I would have Loved to work on these buildings.

All in all I applied to about 10 different positions. I got roughly 3 call backs. One dismissed me altogether because it didn't end until mid-September (classes start in August so I don't really understand the logic here.) Another was a fantastic opportunity was in the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve in Florida. I would have worked on the Kingsley Plantation old slave quarters. As taken for the Park Service website: "Many of the buildings at Kingsley Plantation are made of tabby. Tabby is a mix of lime, sand and water. The lime was obtained by cooking whole oyster shells in a kiln, then "slaking" the shells by adding water to them - in this process the shells break down." The history of the plantation is fascinating, you can read more about it and see pictures here: http://www.nps.gov/timu/historyculture/kp_tabby.htm

I was really excited about this opportunity. This would have been the perfect job for me combining my studies in Anthropology and Historic Preservation. The only problem, this was an unpaid internship. Under normal circumstances that would not have influenced my decision, but given that I have been unable to find a full-time job in Leadville, and I still have another semester at least to go, I just could not afford this for the summer.

Then I got a call from another internship right here in Colorado that I was also very interested in. The program is called HistoriCorps and is run by Colorado Preservation Inc. Basically they will be focusing on about 5 different projects all in the Southern part of Colorado, in the Gunnison and Rio Grande National Forests. They're all a bit different, but for the most part they are very hands-on opportunities for restoring old wooden and log buildings. I applied for an assistant position, I would be responsible for helping out the crew leader in organizing volunteer crews and of course, working on the structures.

I was very excited about this opportunity given its remote location in the mountains (I love to camp), the hands on learning opportunity and the fact that these projects are open to volunteers all summer long. So needless to say, I was SUPER excited when I was offered the position! Read more about HistoriCorps here: http://www.historicorps.org/about.html And really, if you want a fantastic summer vacation, please check out the volunteer opportunities, I would LOVE to see you there for a few days or week!

We start around May 21st, first going to Wyoming for a week to meet our fellow crew members and get some hands-on training for the summer. Oh I love Wyoming too, so excited for the summer! In the meantime, I'm desperately figuring out how to rig my truck for the summer. I opted to outfit the back of my truck as a sleeping space rather than sleep in a tent all summer. Now I have to make sure my truck topper is water tight, (which it is not at all at the moment), then make some kind of sleeping platform, leave space for my gear, and figure out what to do about heat (it will snow at 10,000 feet during the summer). I know it might sound miserable to you, but I am so excited. I love the sense of adventure and can't wait for the road trips on my days off. The four corners area is choc-full of outdoor recreation that are among my favorites...mountain biking at Moab, hiking at Taos and the Arches, wondering at Mesa Verde...endless opportunities.

Only one month left of classes for this semester, and then I'll be spending the summer doing what I came here to do- hammer and nail some stuff and road trip in between. Woo-hoo!! Once again, please consider volunteering for HistoriCorps, you won't regret it and I might even let you sleep in my truck!