For some students, summer is a time to kick back and relax in the Great Outdoors. For two Greenfield Community College students, this summer was about putting in a full day's work in the Great Outdoors.

GCC students Sarah Mildren, 25, of Turners Falls and Kate Marquis, 26, of Amherst spent the summer working as park rangers at Tully Lake in Royalston and they had a blast doing it. Mildren, who is an Environmental Science-Human Ecology major at GCC, said she had been volunteering for the nonprofit group the Trustees of Reservations, which owns and maintains Tully Lake, for more than a year now. The summer job became just another extension of that. "I took the position because I had a good opportunity to do a lot of environmental education here," Mildren said.

Her job involves patrolling the grounds and talking to people about how they can help maintain the park by minimizing their impact. For instance, she asks people not to put up more that two tents because the foot traffic can increase erosion, and impact the earth, especially on the sites that are directly on the water.

Marquis, who recently transferred to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to pursue a degree in forestry, said it was through a class at GCC that she became interested in working at Tully Lake. She took ancient living wilderness skills with Walker Korby, a weekend-long class where students camp out without the help of modern manmade camping equipment. They made a fire using a bow, made a debris shelter and made wooden bowls and utensils to eat with.

"It was awesome. It snowed the whole time and it sleeted and it was cold, but that only formed more community and unity in the group," she said. "I absolutely love that GCC has this kind of course. If it wasn't for courses like that I wouldn't be on the career path I'm on."

During the excursion, Marquis learned about the Trustees of Reservations and decided to pursue a summer job there. She already had three other jobs lined up by the time she found out she was accepted, so she had to use all her days off in order to take the job. "But with this job, it was worth it," she said. Marquis entered GCC with the intent of going into the nursing program. She ended up taking a water ecology class and then a natural history class and after that she was hooked. She changed her career goals to go into forestry and never looked back. She said GCC was a wonderful place for her and the caring faculty helped her realize what her calling was.

"The faculty's involvement in the community at the school is just unbelievable. They realize that a lot of the kids at the school don't have the opportunities and time to find these jobs and see what's out there," she said. "The teachers take the time to get to know each student personally and because of that, they are able to give you more guidance."

Mildren will be finishing at GCC this semester and will graduate this spring. After that, she is planning to attend the Audubon Expedition Institute to either get a Bachelor's Degree in environmental science or possibly a Master's Degree in environmental education. She said her time at GCC working with her advisors ( Angel Russek in the human ecology program and Brian Adams in the environmental science program) has been great. "Both Angel Russek, and Brian Adams have been incredible influences, and provided encouragement and inspiration to me on a daily basis," Mildren said.

Mildren plans to continue working to educate people about the environment and her summer job was a great start to that career. "The Trustees of Reservations is a great nonprofit organization. It's an honor to have worked for them. I've gotten a lot of experience in several different areas--environmental science, stewardship, trail maintenance, erosion control, and education. Hopefully I will be able to return next year, for another season of meaningful work."