I started working for the NPS in 2010 as a seasonal part-time dispatcher and interpreter through the STEP/SCEP Program (now Pathways) at Grand Teton National Park. Looking back, the opportunity to experience a dual career with the NPS was the catalyst to finding my passion and determining my career path in emergency services. 

I valued the interactive and educational aspect of interpretation but was ultimately drawn to the dynamic, fast-paced, adrenaline filled role of being the first of the first responders helping assist the public who require emergency services. An incident that I have at the forefront of my mind is the largest rescue efforts at Grand Teton in which 16 climbers were rescued and one recovered just below the summit ("The Fine Line" Podcast Relives the Largest Rescue Effort ever on the Grand Teton — Teton County Search and Rescue (tetoncountysar.org).  After graduating in 2013 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, concentration Geology, I continued my career as a dispatcher at various parks throughout the United States and the Navy.   

Growing up in a border city in the southwest, where the majority of the population is Hispanic, Spanish speaking and bilingual, the environment that I faced both internally and externally was challenging and rewarding at Grand Teton; the culture shock was very real! I remember playing back dispatch recordings and hearing a very hard accent that was mine. In those moments I remember feeling ashamed and embarrassed that I looked and sounded so different from my colleagues. It was then that I began assimilating, enunciating my words differently, making my accent less noticeable. Mostly so at the beginning of my career, I would go back and listen to recordings to see if I was reaching my goal to sound clearer, and I was! As my career path took me coast-to-coast (ME, WA, ME, CA) I began to value and cherish my differences and culture. I have come to find that the beauty of the National Parks are our differences with a commonality of loving the history of the land and the people.  

October will mark my third year at Grand Canyon working alongside supportive and "got your back" teammates (David, Katie, Alonzo, Claire, and Jenn). I never in my wildest dreams believed that I would call this place "home" and I sure didn't believe I would meet my partner and husband, Skyler Hardy, who I married twice once in November 2023 and again last month!  

I am excited to see what the future holds and the adventures that working for the National Park Service will bring.