Interactive Student Guide CD Garners Regional Award

Date: September 11, 2009
Contact: Amy Vanderbilt, 406-888-5838
Contact: Wade Muehlhof, 406-888-7895

WEST GLACIER, MONT. – Glacier National Park officials congratulate Bill Hayden, Interpretive Specialist, for being selected as the Intermountain Region’s winner of the 2009 Freeman Tilden Award for Excellence in Interpretation.

Hayden won the prestigious award for researching, creating and producing “The Glacier National Park Student Resource Guide.” In the past, the park would send brochures or pamphlets to students who made requests for information while researching national parks for their school projects. These paper presentations often fail to capture the “essence of a place.” Hayden created an interactive CD that provides a wide variety of documents, photos, and videos, as well as podcasts on park research and science, 360-degree panoramic images, and activities for younger students. The CD includes a combination of newly produced materials along with existing photos and media. The finished product contains vastly more information than the park would be able to provide by other means.

The CD, which is provided free of charge thanks to financial support from the Glacier Association, embraces how students receive and use knowledge in the Information Age, meeting kids “where they are” to ensure that the national parks are relevant in the lives of young people. The guide is available from Glacier National Park by contacting park headquarters at 406-888-7800.

“It’s important to reach people where they are, and today’s digital technology opens up endless opportunities for our interpreters to present the park in new exciting ways. Bill’s work, which I’m very proud of, is leading the way,” said Chas Cartwright, Glacier National Park’s superintendent.

The Freeman Tilden Award, sponsored in partnership by the NPS and the National Parks Conservation Association, annually recognizes outstanding contributions to the public through interpretation by a Park Service employee. It is named for Freeman Tilden, considered the father of interpretation, and the author of The National Parks, What They Mean to You and Me and Interpreting Our Heritage. Tilden’s writings have had considerable influence on interpretation and education programs within the NPS.

The award was created in 1982 to stimulate and reward creative thinking and work that has positive effects on park visitors.

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