Halle Zuck

Halle Zuck grew up in a small rural town near Duluth, Minnesota. A longtime lover of all things outdoors, she spent her childhood cross-country and alpine skiing, hiking, camping, backpacking, canoeing, swimming, biking, and more. Now an undergraduate at Vermont’s Middlebury College studying neuroscience, global health, and gender studies, she stays active outdoors in the school’s cross-country ski club and instructing ski lessons for BIPOC students. “I was lucky to have the privilege of such great access to the outdoors growing up, and I continue to appreciate any adventure I can,” she says. One of those adventures was an internship position through Rocky Mountain Youth Corps as a trail work crew member. We caught up with her for some insight into her time at RMYC and how it helped prepare her for her future.  

How did you hear about and end up in the RMYC Internship program?

I initially heard about RMYC through my college and a friend who worked as a crew member a few years back. I worked for a summer with RMYC after my first year in undergrad as a crew member doing trail work. The next year I reached out to internships program manager Alex Guerra to see if there were any positions available in the internship program. He was very helpful in this process, and I began to apply to nearly all the remaining positions. After that first summer at RMYC, the next summer I landed an internship position with the Wilderness Crew in the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District, where I worked with several Forest Service leaders that I met the previous summer.

How’d the intern season go and what all did you learn? 

I’ve never had as much fun in any job as I did with this internship. The wilderness and trail crews in the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District were all wonderful, which made all work dynamics and communications run smoothly. I appreciated working with such leaders as Claire Morris, Gill Purvenas, and Katy Nelson, as well as our whole crew and other crews we met throughout our training. The internship taught me a variety of skills and educated me on the workings of a wilderness crew and the Wilderness Act. Some of the skills I learned included the mechanisms behind trail design and crosscutting, wilderness first aid, effective communication with coworkers, and conflict transformation skills, especially while living and working together with a crew.  

How do you feel your internship helped you prepare for your future? 

My internship with RMYC helped me become more comfortable with and confident in looking for governmental and other jobs. I think my time working with the Forest Service, RMYC, and AmeriCorps helped prepare me for similar opportunities in the future, and using my newfound environmental management knowledge to benefit my understanding of major public and global health concerns regarding the relationship between the environment and humans as an interconnected system.  

Any advice for other RMYC interns? 

In this line of work, you must be able to learn how to take care of yourself first, and remain communicative and collaborative with your crew to prevent exhaustion, injury, and conflict among the crew members. This type of position requires a lot of energy, grit, enthusiasm, and willingness to constantly communicate and look out for your crewmates. But this kind of work is also so rewarding and fun, so while remaining professional, don’t forget to have fun and enjoy the outdoors while you get to work out in the mountains. 

Any plans for the future? 

I’m finishing up my undergraduate degree and studying abroad this spring semester of 2025 at the University of Otago in New Zealand. After I graduate, I intend to pursue some sort of global and/or public health career involving women’s health, environmental health, public health research, and forms of advocacy and public education. I hope to incorporate my neuroscience background in there somewhere as well. This pursuit will most likely land me in some sort of master’s or PhD program, but I’m still undecided. I’d also like to take some time off for a bit to explore some pathways before I go back to school.