This is an internship with the park interpretation & education division. The intern will help tell “untold” stories of the Klondike Gold Rush by working alongside park staff to learn operations and assist visitors. The main duties of the intern are outlined below:

Interpretive programs: Research, develop, and lead walking tours and auditorium programs focused on a marginalized aspect of the Klondike story. In past years, rangers have created programs on women of the Klondike, Children during the gold rush, the culture and influence of the Tlingit (Alaska Native) people, and the African-American “Buffalo Soldiers” of Company L stationed in Skaway. The 2017 LHIP intern, Esmeralda Aguilar, created and implemented a program focused on the cultural influence the 1898 Spanish-American war had on the U.S and the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. Using a substantial amount of primary source documents and research, the intern can choose from multiple facets of the Gold Rush story to share and connect with visitors.

Informal interpretation & visitor assistance: Staff public buildings such as park visitor center, museums, and Junior Ranger Activity Center. Duties will include providing informal interpretation to visitors on Klondike Gold Rush history and park resources & significance, offering site orientation to visitors, operating media equipment, introducing park film, as well as performing opening and closing procedures. The intern will gain a detailed understanding of how to share the National Park Service mission, day to day operations at a busy national park site, and greatly build on their public communication skills.

Learning about the National Park Service: The intern will have many opportunities to learn about different park operations. This will be tailored to the selected intern, but will include attending the superintendent’s leadership meetings and departmental planning meetings. This tailored experience can also include shadowing park environmental field studies such as boreal toad surveys, eulachon Fish studies, and/or bat acoustic monitoring. The intern will have the opportunity to participate in archaeological digs with cultural resources staff; and time is provided for the intern to hike in the backcountry on the park’sChilkoot Trail.

Community outreach & special events: The intern will have other opportunities for outreach depending on their interests. Opportunities include promoting LHIP during the park’s Jr. Ranger Day by staffing an activity table, marching with the NPS float in the Fourth of July parade, assisting with summer camp planning and staffing, or any of the other events at the park.

Standard LHIP positions will go for a 10-week period will begin in late May through early June 2019 and conclude in July through early September 2019 depending on specific requirements of the project site.

Age 18 to 35

Possess US citizenship or permanent residence

Be enrolled in a post-secondary educational program or have graduated from college within the past year

Have a strong interest — or relevant experience —  in areas pertaining to — but not limited to —  history, historic preservation, public history, museum studies, archaeology, cultural interpretation, landscape architecture, anthropology or other related fields.

Bilingual skills (Spanish/English) — helpful and more needed for some positions

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