A Conversation with Ranger and Education Technician Johnna Austin

Give us a little information about your role and work with the National Park Service.

I am a Park Ranger and Education Technician for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA). I started my park ranger career as an Education Technician for the Bureau of Land Management in Newport, Oregon where I led students through tidepools. However, I was excited to come to MNRRA because I am from the Twin Cities and always seem to find my way back home. 

I work a lot with our partner, Wilderness Inquiry, where we take kids out on North Canoes. You can also find me on the Take Me to the River field trips in October as well as co-coordinating the Mississippi River Fellowship for the park. 

I truly believe I have one of the best jobs at MNRRA as I get to develop, plan and lead education programs for the park, and most of the time I am out on the Mississippi River with students on field trips. I love being able to have such variety in my work week and feel so lucky I get to be outside on the river for most of it! 

Summer came and went pretty fast! What were some of the highlights for you? 

This summer was very busy with field trips and programs. A highlight for me was working on the Adventure in the City field trips with Wilderness Inquiry, which is a week-long credit recovery program with Saint Paul public high school students. We did various activities throughout the week together, including paddling, poetry, and interpretive hikes. I really liked seeing the same students every day and creating relationships with them. 

There’s a lot happening with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area this coming school year. From field trip programs like Big River Journey, Take Me to the River, Winter River, and Working River, to our online program offerings like virtual ranger visits, Big River Journey Online, and both Working and Living River Online websites, there’s a lot for teachers to get their students involved with the park throughout the school year.

As an educator yourself, what are some of the unique benefits that these programs bring to teachers and students, and how can those benefits enable students to grow as learners?

I think that experiential learning is really cool and I think the Mississippi River is the perfect place to do it. Every year I see kids go outside and try new things, and sometimes they have to be pushed out of their comfort zone to do some of them, like canoeing. A lot of the time they find new interests within these activities and, if anything, they are learning about new places to come back to and explore close to their home.

You’ve worked with the park service education team for some time now, including working with both rangers and River Educators. What do you think this team offers to schools and their students?

I think they offer a really unique opportunity to get students outside and into a National Park area–not a lot of kids can say that they went to a National Park for their field trip! Our rangers and River Educators all have very different backgrounds so they give us the ability to offer a wide variety of programs.

What are some of your favorite things about this park?

There are a lot of things that I love about this park but one of my favorites is the location. Since we are in the middle of the Twin Cities we are able to connect with a great variety of people. Also, a lot of kids that come on our field trips live very close to the river but haven’t ever been there and so we get to show them. 

What are a couple of books or websites you can offer to teachers as resources that can help with understanding this park more?

I would make sure to follow the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and the Mississippi Park Connection on Facebook and Instagram. There are a lot of posts about what's going on in the park and which events are coming up. I would pick up a Mississippi River Companion next time you are near one of our visitor centers.

And lastly, what’s your favorite park animal?!

I love river otters! I have only seen one while paddling in the park, but I think they are fun to learn about and so cute. We talk about river otters a lot in our programming as well as it’s an easy topic to connect with people and get them excited about caring for the river.