Passion met career as state park employees from all over gathered at the Isle du Bois Unit to share about their jobs for Career Day on Saturday.
There was a range of different departments represented, including Maintenance; Administration and Customer Service; Interpretive Services; Natural Resources; Management; Park Law Enforcement; Game Warden and K9 Unit; and Volunteer and Internships.
Visitors could come and go on the beautiful, sunny day as they pleased.
Along with presentations offering tips and tricks on the hiring process, Bonham State Park Interim Superintendent Brit Blasingame was one of the presenters and event organizers.
Blasingame organized it with Isle du Bois Park Interpreter Mindy Shumate, whom he credits with spearheading the event.
“I could not have done any of this without them,” Blasingame said. “I think that's a testament to state parks as a whole and especially this park in particular. We're all very close-knit and grateful to have them. Everybody stepped up to make this happen.”
Mark Stewart, the superintendent of the Ray Roberts Lake State Park Isle du Bois Unit, has seen the park evolve over his 27-year career with the agency.
“We started because there was a deficit in what people knew as far as how to fill out our application because it is state employment, and there's kind of some details they have to hit to get considered,” Stewart added.
He also mentioned that it’s been a great opportunity to inform people about the different positions offered and to find recruits.
For Mikaila Walker, the Cedar Hill State Park assistant office manager, who operated the volunteers, internships and ambassador programs booth, events like these give her the chance to share her love of parks and nature with others and to direct them to opportunities they might not have known about.
“Nature is everywhere around you,” Walker said. “You don't have to come out to state parks to experience it. Your own backyard has birds and has squirrels and has different types of wildlife. If you have your eyes open and your ears open, you can always experience something with nature.”
One such opportunity was to connect with visitors like Courts Griner, who was there for reasons other than a career fair.
Griner, a frequent visitor to the park, has been coming for over 20 years to photograph animals like deer and birds.
Stumbling upon the Career Day was a happy little accident.
“I spent enough time out here over the last 20 years, I figured I'd see what kind of opportunities they had,” Greiner said.
Attending the event led him to consider the possibility of working at the park, an idea he hadn’t thought of before.
“These parks are almost sacred places that have been around for over 100 years in some cases,” Blasingame said. “We hope to keep them around for hundreds more years. And we can't do that without getting our mission statement across and really talking to people about what we do.”
