Q&A: Youth volunteer's stories from 8 years with WTA

Sophie has been a youth volunteer with WTA for 8 years. This spring, he has been interning with WTA.  During this time, he has mostly worked on-trail, assisting with Youth & Families work parties. He has also had the opportunity to complete training, including Wilderness First Aid, and meet the communications team at WTA. As he’s wrapping up his internship, he answered some questions about his experiences with WTA.

Sophie on trail from his very first work party in 2017.

How did you first get involved with WTA? And how did you get involved with trail work? 

I did my first work party with my Scout troop in 2018. One of the parents of the troop was a hardcore backpacker — a superlight, drinks-her-dish-rinsing-water type of backpacker. She brought up the idea of a day work party with WTA, and I was immediately intrigued. In school, they closed our sand pit because people got too muddy playing in it. As one of the enterprising clay excavators, it was refreshing to be in an environment where we were allowed — and even encouraged — to get dirty. Our troop kept signing up for annual work parties, and the rest was history.

What’s your favorite trail work skill or task? And why do you enjoy it?

My favorite trail work task is moving big rocks or logs. There is something about the teamwork required to push waterlogged sections of wood as thick as my torso out of a deep gulley with nearly sheer walls. I find it irresistible. It’s a mix of careful analysis and muscular strain that I find very rewarding.

What have been a couple of highlights of this internship experience?

I have very much enjoyed having time to do a bunch of trail days all at once. I’ve been able to go back to the same worksite multiple times and shape how a stretch of trail functions from the first swing of a grubhoe to the final shovelful of dirt. This offers a much broader perspective of trail design than I had previously. It also allows me to explain the same task to many different people and work on my leadership abilities. It has also been interesting to see behind the scenes at WTA. I’ve been able to learn how the work parties I so enjoy are made possible, and how much work WTA really does for trails.

Sophie enjoying a day on trail at a recent work party.

What would you tell a young person who is interested in trail work, but is nervous about trying it out?

There are a lot of different tasks to trail work. You won’t be handed a shovel and made to dig a huge pit — unless that’s what you want to do. An 8hour work party might seem intimidating at first, but you get breaks, and at the end of the day it really is the end of the day. There’s no harm in trying new things and deciding you don’t like them. And there always is the chance you really like it, like I did. It’s also a great way to get service hours for school.

What are some of your goals for the future? Either related to trails or not!

I am very excited to be going to college in the fall. I’m staying relatively local so I’m considering becoming an assistant crew leader with WTA. I think it would be a great way to explore Tacoma’s trails and build community in a new town. In the future, I want to keep giving back to nature by pursuing an environmental science degree.

What should outdoor education look like for young people? What are your dreams for the world of outdoor education?

I think it’s really important to get people interested in nature early. I also think that showing is a much more important tool than telling. I used to be a counselor at a summer camp, and the lesson that immediately engaged the kids was always when they got to hold the taxidermied birds. Getting kids excited about how cool the outdoors are is paramount to continued engagement with the outdoors, kids’ mental health and environmental protection efforts.

Want to get involved? WTA has day work parties for youth and families around the state. There is also an upcoming 5-day trip for LGBTQ+ youth at Deception Pass State Park. Registration is open now. This program provides community for queer youth within outdoor spaces and is all around a lot of fun.