The Calm Before Spring

Matt Corby

This past month began on a high note, quite literally! My friends Anne Marie and Eric (remember them from the Christmas road trip?) and I began the month by enjoying a Matt Corby concert at the Black Cat music hall here in DC. It was an excellent performance! The fun continued the following weekend when I got together with friends for a potluck, enjoyed watching the superbowl with the Novaks, and babysat my neighbor's kids (ages 3 and 8).

Myself with Liz Putnam

And, the weekend following that fellow CVA from New York (Abby) was in town, so some friends and I got together and showed off all that there is to do in DC. We also got together as a group to have a going-away lunch and outing for a different CVA, Hilary, as she accepted a full time position with the National Park Service. We can only hope that this internship turns into 'real' jobs for some of us as well! Another fun event to mention from this past month was speaking at a conference on behalf of SCA. My fellow CVAs and I had the awesome opportunity to speak about how this internship has impacted us and got to meet the founder of SCA, Liz Putnam! Passionate about getting young people involved in conservation, she is a very inspirational woman.

Taking 4th Graders through the White House

Work this month was filled with education programs, conference calls, meetings, and planning for the White House Easter Egg Roll. We are already at the point of the internship were we are starting to think about what's next for us as individuals as well as how to best wrap up our work at our park sites. Writing transition documents, writing down what I actually do, and 'cleaning up' my files for the next person are all on the to-do list.

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I've often wrote about how things haven't been easy throughout this internship. Now that we are nearing the end (already?!) I have the opportunity to leave my suggestions for next year. I am currently writing my suggestions on how things could be improved at the park, regional, and national level. While this is a big undertaking, I am pleased to know that the program is willing to accept feedback and I feel like this is the best opportunity to make real changes for the future. And, at the national level, they have asked me to attend the orientation sessions for the next CVAs to share my experiences (likely meaning travel to Philadelphia and Las Vegas!).

Typical conference call setup (papers, papers, & more papers)

Speaking of traveling, my calendar is filling up, both with people planning to visit me and trips I am planning to take. In the next three months I have many different people visiting me here in DC and I have a few trips planned myself! This week is the calm before it all gets started. Some of my travel includes going to North Carolina/Georgia for my Wilderness First Responder re-certification course, a possible trip to NYC, and traveling for the CVA orientations and training. Look forward to lots of fun blog posts soon, as various people visit and I take my turn doing the traveling!