My Park Story: Jeremy Childs

Jeremy giving a geology program at Yavapai Amphitheater on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, 2019.

NPS/Jeremy Childs

What was your pathway to the National Park Service (NPS)?

I am from Nashville, TN. I owned a successful recording studio but got tired of sitting in a room with no windows, so I started looking for change first with Metro Nashville Parks as a naturalist, then volunteering at Stones River National Battlefield.

What interested you in the National Park Service?

I grew up visiting national parks often. Great Smokey Mountains was our default summer getaway, but my family also endeavored on a great American southwest vacation one year that including Zion, Bryce, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon. That journey solidified my interest the outdoors and history.

What do you do for NPS?

I am currently the Downlake District Interpreter at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. I supervise seasonal and term employees, develop programming, manage visitor center operations, and do all-around awesome stuff every day.

What do you find most rewarding about your job?

The moment when you see a visitor’s face light up with excitement at something you have just told or shown them. Perhaps I just sparked something in them that will lead to their own journey of conservation and outdoor stewardship.

How has Glen Canyon sparked a connection with something or someone important to you?

During my time at Grand Canyon National Park, I often visited this area, and fell in love with it. It is an adult playground. The quiet is what I love most, getting lost in the wilderness and all you hear is the wind softly eroding the canyon you are standing in, making it all the more spectacular for the next lucky visitor.

Jeremy with NPS Historian Emeritus Edwin C. Bearss at Stones River National Battlefield in 2016. In 2020, Jeremy was awarded the Bearss Fellowship by the National Park Foundation.

NPS/ Jeremy Childs

What advice do you have for youth and young adults thinking about a career at NPS?

When you are young, it may be difficult to have a long-term set of goals but do your best. Don’t jump at the first subject-to-furlough park guide position that comes your way. Wait for something that truly inspires you. If you aren’t inspired by the resource, how can you expect to inspire others?

Do you have any hobbies outside of the NPS?

Music is my second love, and I still enjoy it on a regular basis, although making time to create it has become difficult.

Do you remember the first park you visited?

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

What is your background? College? Study?

BS in History (Tennessee State University) and an MA in History (Arizona State University)

Any favorite or funny memories of the job?

Working the park hotline at Grand Canyon and received a frantic phone call from a visitor letting me know that some of our elk had escaped and they were headed south toward Valle. I thanked her kindly and said I would look into it.