This is not my first experience working for U.S. Fish & Wildlife, and it will not be my last. My first experience was volunteering at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge in Kodiak, Alaska to complete my internship requirement for my undergraduate degree. I helped facilitate an environmental education and outdoor recreation summer camp for the children in the town of Kodiak but also the children in rural remote villages. My supervisor at the time informed me about the Directorate Fellows Program and it has been my mission since 2019 to get in. It feels so nice that I have been given this opportunity by the Hispanic Access Foundation. I fell in love with Alaska in 2019 and being able to work there, even remotely, has been amazing. 

My DFP project is working with the Arctic Youth Ambassadors (AYA) program that the Alaska External Affairs office, World Wildlife Fund, and the Alaska Conservation Fund help sponsor. This opportunity allows the participants to have a platform where their concerns about the changing Arctic are heard, and I am glad to be helping with this process. 

I have been a fellow for just three weeks now, but there have been multiple opportunities where I have been able to relate my graduate coursework to my project. We are working on sustainable tourism efforts for Alaska post-COVID, and I have taken multiple sustainable tourism courses in undergrad and grad school. The AYA program is in the process of creating a strategic plan, and I have taken coursework in creating these plans. There have been opportunities where ambassadors apply for mini grants and I am there to provide assistance since I have written grants myself. It is great to see that my graduate degree is giving me all of these applicable skills for my career. 

I can't wait to see the opportunities that DFP has to offer. 

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: Directorate Fellow Program

Location: External Affairs, Alaska Region