Hello my name is Laura Patton, I have been a part of the ProRanger Program for almost 3 years now.
I am an Environmental Studies Major at Temple University so nature is a big interest of mine.
I’ve wanted to be a ranger since I was in high school and started working at Nockamixon State Park.
I quickly became very close to the rangers at my park because of how many times they saved us!
I am now a supervisor lifeguard and normally work at the park 6 days a week in the summer.
I never wake up and dread going to work, that's how I knew I wanted the park service to be my
future career. We heavily rely on the park rangers to help keep the patrons safe and watching
them quickly made it a dream job of mine. When I transferred to Temple I didn’t know about
the ProRanger program but my advisor told me about it and I quickly signed up that same day!
Practicing Repelling at Leadership Camp New River Gorge in WV
The ProRanger Program has taught me so much. We have the ability to talk to many rangers
at different levels of the park service and learn from their experiences. My goal is to go out west
to learn more about search and rescue. Every time I talk to a ranger who has experienced search
and rescue they always get really excited telling their stories. The job will definitely have tough days
but I think it will be very rewarding. I passed my EMT course and now just have to start volunteering!
I hope on my internship I get to meet some rangers who will show me the trails and really get an idea
of what a day to day life looks like. I'd love to build my resume with more certificates during my summer
internship. I hope to learn more about boats for water rescue and boat stops.
Olympic National Park
My dream park is Olympic National Park in Washington. The park is the most beautiful place I’ve
been in America and I can’t see myself ever getting tired of it. Every trail seems like you're hiking in
a fairytale; similar to middle-earth in Lord of the Rings! I love any terrain with mountains and moss,
so Washington is a dream! I love parks out west the most because of the ancient trees and people
are always so nice out there. The Eastern region has some beautiful parks as well, they are all so
unique. I spent a week at Acadia and my favorite part was stargazing and hiking the precipice trail.
It was a really beautiful park and has great fish and chips up there! If I’ve learned anything it's that
every park has something to learn from and that’s what fascinates me about the National Park Service.
Precipice Trail at Acadia in Maine
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