Darian Lightfoot Leaves a Big Footprint

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Darian Lightfoot enjoys her summer in the great outdoors with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota.

FULTON, MO (12/19/2013)(readMedia)-- Could you imagine the sight of a big black bear coming straight at you and the kids in your charge? What would have put most people into a shock or complete panic was, for Darian Lightfoot, just another day of her internship.

She advised her crew to do what they had learned-to make themselves appear as big as possible in an attempt to intimidate the bear into reconsidering making them into his afternoon snack.

Obviously, the plan worked since Lightfoot, a senior American Sign Language major from Fort Madison, Iowa, is back on campus for another semester at The Woods. She is back with a greater understanding and respect for nature and conservation efforts, even better American Sign Language and interpreting skills and a heap of great stories.

According to Lightfoot, an experience like this can not only improve your skills in ASL and interpreting, but also enrich your life in so many ways.

"This giving back, this experience of meeting people who have the same passion as you, is absolutely life changing," she said.

During her LEAD presentation earlier this fall, she told the students and staff of William Woods University what it was like living in the great outdoors; sleeping in hammocks or tents, making their own food and trucking through the woods with everything they needed on their backs.

Her days started at 6 a.m. when she and other crew leaders made breakfast before waking up "the youth." The youth were teenagers between 15 and 18 who were under the wing of crew leaders. Lightfoot said the youth were "really diverse; some were inner-city at-risk kids who were put into the program by their school's behavioral specialist. Other kids were just really interested in nature."

Each day, crews set out to a worksite with an assignment for the day.

"We would work all morning, with a 15-minute break, and have lunch around 12," said Lightfoot. "During the middle of the day, we did an EA (educational activity). Someone could explain a trip they went on and the benefits of traveling. I did an EA about Greek life because not a lot of the kids knew about it."

At 4, they hiked back to camp. After dinner they did another 30-minute EA, started a fire and played some sort of game. Then it was back in the cabins and lights out for the youth.

In addition to her other duties, Lightfoot interpreted throughout the day. There were four interpreters and three Deaf crew leaders, and 30 percent of the youth were Deaf.

The experience changed Lightfoot's plans for her future. She is thinking of going back and then possibly pursuing something similar afterward. She says she really wants to do more travel with interpreting and more "outdoorsy things."

"Maybe I will work at a Deaf camp; maybe do an AmeriCorps term," she said. "I don't think I want to go straight into agency interpreting like I had in my brain before."

Thanks to Amy Dittmer and the office of Career Services, Lightfoot was able to make her goal of getting this internship a reality. She said Dittmer was there for her every step of the way. "We had three meetings just for my resume," said Lightfoot. "The morning I got the phone call, she was the first person that I texted that I got the job."