The Final Goodbye

Waves at the Wilderness

Week 10 the finale to what has been an amazing summer and it was short for me and surprisingly spent with two divisions. With the way that my two days off worked with the division of interpretation I only had a three-day work week, one of those days spent with Law Enforcement. With interpretation I worked at watch hill visitor center on Wednesday helping some of the junior rangers who had questions that needed to be answered. Thursday I helped the ranger with a program for a local school group, this brought me out to the wilderness center. They had me follow a ranger on a beach walk and help answer any of the questions the kids had. The program went very well and the kids really enjoyed getting to learn about the beach and all the shells that washed up there. Thursday I also went around throughout the park and said my goodbyes to all of the employees I worked with. Saying goodbye to all the people I meant and learned from this summer was the most difficult thing I have done all summer.  It was like saying goodbye to your family after you move into college on your freshman year.

From my Last Sunset on the Island

On Friday I got to work with Law enforcement and patrol one last time before I drove home. While on patrol we talked to a couple people about nudity and also had to stop talk with some about the dogs on the beach. On my final walk through one of the tracks of land we have between two communities we caught two individuals having sex. We walked them out to the patrol truck after having them put their clothes on. We then gave them a citation for disorderly conduct.

I would like to thank all of the Fire Island National Seashore employees for taking me in and making me feel welcome. I would also like to thank them for teaching me more than I ever imagined I would learn in just one summer. Finally, I would like to thank the ProRanger program for giving me this opportunity this summer to learn and grow within the national park service.