My Park Story: Megan McFarland

Megan stops to rest and take a photo while hiking in the Pike's Peak area of Colorado.

Megan McFarland

“I grew up in Mobridge, South Dakota and didn’t really visit many national parks as a child. We would come to the Black Hills to visit with family. I remember one time being at Mount Rushmore, I must have been probably 5 or 6 years old. I don’t remember much except for the gift shop. It was just incredible! When North by Northwest was filmed, both my aunt and my grandfather were briefly in it. We even have a photo of my aunt with Cary Grant!

I attended college at Northern State in Aberdeen SD, majoring in Art. I went on to become a librarian in a little town called Selby, South Dakota for the combined school and community library there. I enjoyed the old library cards and annual inventory, finding lost books and returning them for circulation. I had a large collection of globes and had them displayed at the library. I loved doing things for the kids and the community by applying for grants with the South Dakota Arts Council. For instance, bringing in storytellers, artists, actors, and even an Irish singing group one time. During the summer reading program, the kids were encouraged to bring in their collections- whatever they collected, they could bring to the library, and it would be put on display, and they could talk about their collections. My mother used to volunteer at the Mobridge Library, so I spent a lot of time there as a child. When I became a librarian, my kids grew up in the library as well. My daughter is now a school librarian in Sioux City, Iowa.

I moved to the Black Hills in 2004 and moved into a little place where I can see Mount Rushmore from my yard! I started working for the Mount Rushmore Society in the bookstore. Working retail at such a busy location and having never worked retail before, I had to change my whole personality. I am an introvert, so I adopted a mantra- I can only wait on one person at a time. It’s amazing what you are capable of doing when necessity calls for it. My proudest accomplishment while working for the bookstore was to get a park cancellation rubber stamp, which was approved by Superintendent Gerard Baker, for the Sculptor’s Studio that visitors could add to their national parks passport books. One day, while working at the bookstore in the Sculptor’s Studio, I heard the maintenance supervisor say they were looking for winter seasonals and that’s how I came to work for the National Park Service.

Megan stops to take a quick photo on a beautiful snowy day at work!

Megan McFarland

I wanted to be a park ranger because I thought it would be the coolest thing to talk to people and wear that uniform! After working in the bookstore and reading most of the books, I knew a lot about the Memorial. I’ve worked seasonally for the Park Service since 2006 starting as a winter seasonal in maintenance. I didn’t work for about 13 summer seasons with the NPS, so I would have to find work elsewhere during that time. Starting about four years ago though, I was able to start applying for the summer work, so I now have back-to-back seasons which was a plus when that happened!

Some interesting things have happened over the years. On my very first day of work, the South Dakota quarter had not been released but the Treasury Department sent a man here for a ceremony celebrating the release and that man brought all of us employees a quarter! I was working in 2007 when they were filming National Treasure 2 here at the Memorial. It was fun watching the filming and eating lunch with the cast and crew. I got to visit with John Voigt! A great honor came in 2015 when I was asked to do a podcast for National Public Radio's StoryCorps. It was for the upcoming National Park Service’s 100th anniversary, so a summer seasonal, Tony Espers, and myself, a winter seasonal, compared differences in our maintenance jobs.

My position is titled Maintenance Worker and it includes the daily cleaning of buildings and grounds for visitors and employees. Which includes cleaning, picking up litter, trash, and recycling, cleaning bathrooms, painting at park housing and in the winter shoveling snow. Fortunately, I really enjoy shoveling snow though my body doesn’t always agree. If I didn’t love shoveling snow, then I wouldn’t still be here! My position also includes taking inventory of supplies in storage and the personal protective equipment cabinet. There are odds and ends cleaning and tasks as well such as the annual deep clean of the Visitor Center where all the seats in the theaters are shampooed and the walls and carpets are thoroughly cleaned. Sometimes we repair drywall and paint walls. We are just always on the go!

Sunrise on Mount Rushmore as seen from the Borglum View Terrace.

Megan McFarland

One of the reasons I really love this job is that I’m outside most of the time. I also really enjoy visiting with people and hearing their reactions whether it’s a return visit or their first. I do my best and I think I do a good job. I can tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, so I have learned that I need to just let it be. When a new person comes on, I show them how I do a task, and tell them that as long as they work smart, not hard and work safe, if they can get the same results, a different way, then I say go for it. I know there are a lot of things I have changed by speaking up and providing suggestions. It makes a difference and that’s probably what keeps me coming back.

My observation over the years has been that those individuals that come in as interns or student volunteers advance quickly in the National Park Service. There was a young gal who came in as a volunteer starting here and she’s now the superintendent of a park!

My advice? Volunteer!”