Riley Scantlebury
Arizona State Parks & Trails
Sedona, AZ USA
"I care a lot about the outdoors and if I can transfer just a little bit of that onto other people, then I’m happy."
Career Roadmap
Riley's work combines: Environment & Nature, Education, and Teaching / Mentoring
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
There are endless paths you can take to become a park ranger. I have a degree in biology, which has been a perfect stepping stone for me in my career path, but almost any natural or cultural resources degree is a great way to become a park ranger. You can have a degree in history, geology, forestry, archaeology, wildlife management, parks and recreation, etc. You can determine your own path based on your interests and the type of park or public land area you'd like to work at.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Biology/Biological Sciences, General
Westminster College
Certification
Certified Interpretive Guide
National Association for Interpretation (NAI)
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I went to Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, for college but didn’t know what I wanted to do.
2.
I waited until my junior year of college to declare a major and ended up picking biology.
3.
I got the opportunity to do research on wild bird populations and found that I loved working outside in nature.
4.
My degree was in general biology but I tried to gear most of my classes towards conservation and natural resources.
5.
After college, I did a few internships in things like water conservation and invasive plants.
6.
I started at Red Rock State Park in Sedona, Arizona, as a seasonal employee and was hired on as a full-time environmental education park ranger when a position opened up.
7.
I’ve been in this position for two years now and I’m primarily focused on connecting students to nature.