Robert Duvall passed away February 15th. His career spanned decades and genres, but for many, his portrayal of Augustus “Gus” McCrae in Lonesome Dove remains one of his most beloved roles. It is a performance that captured the grit, humor, and heart of the American West and one that holds a special, often understated connection to Philmont Scout Ranch.

What many people may not realize is that portions of Lonesome Dove, including the iconic scenes featuring buffalo on the open plains, were filmed right here on the Ranch. Philmont’s sweeping landscapes provided an authentic backdrop that helped bring the story’s sense of scale and realism to life. True to Philmont’s character, this connection has never been heavily promoted, but it is a meaningful part of our history.

The ties run even deeper than filming locations. The Lonesome Dove story is inspired in part by the life of Charles Goodnight, one of the great cattlemen of the American West. Goodnight was a contemporary and close friend of the Chase family and, according to local history, would stop by the Chase Ranch during cattle drives north to Colorado. Those real relationships and real places shaped the legends that later found their way into literature and film.

Philmont has always been more than a backdrop. It is a living landscape layered with stories of exploration, stewardship, and the people who shaped the West. As we remember Robert Duvall and his remarkable contribution to American storytelling, this feels like a fitting moment to quietly remind ourselves and others that Philmont has played a small but authentic role in that story.

It is another example of how the Ranch continues to connect Scouting, history, conservation, and culture in ways that are sometimes subtle, but always meaningful.

By Warren Cole Smith

High Country Contributing Writer

Published in the March 2023 edition of High Country.

Editor’s Note: The following remarks were delivered by the author at the annual Rabbi Zeke Palnick Memorial Porch Talk held in July [2022] at the PSA’s reunion.

Rabbi Zeke Palnick would not have needed an introduction to an earlier generation of Philmont staffers. He was well known and well-loved during his many years on the Philmont staff. To remember and honor Rabbi Zeke, his family established this Zeke Palnick Porch Talk to carry on Rabbi Zeke’s legacy of tolerance and dialogue. I’m honored that the family is allowing me to deliver this year’s talk. As I reflected on Rabbi Zeke’s life, and on Philmont and why it continues to draw us back year after year, three words kept coming to my mind. Those words are Friend, Peace, and Home.

Friend

I would like to take a few minutes to explain why these words are so important, but to lead us into that discussion, I’d like to share with you some of the words on Zeke Palnick’s own gravestone. They include the following:

Husband – Father – Grandfather Brother – Friend

That word “friend” jumped out at me. Many of us here tonight have Philmont close friends. Philmont has a way of forging friendships that stand the test of time. It is a beautiful thing to greet with a warm handshake or a hug someone you first met 20, 30, 40, even 50 years ago. I’m fond of the saying “old friends are the best,” because it’s true: they are. There is something about a friendship formed in one’s youth, in the crucible of a shared passion and mission, that never leaves you.

The fact that Zeke had the word “Friend” on his tombstone speaks volumes about him. I also think that word should be both an encouragement and a challenge to us. I think Zeke would have us ask ourselves, “What kind of friend are we?” One way we can honor Zeke Palnick and honor our Philmont experience is to ask that question of ourselves daily and seek to be a better friend to the people in our lives.

Peace

The second word I would like for us to consider in relation both to Zeke’s life and to our experience at Philmont is the word “peace.”

I don’t need to tell you that we live in a world that is anything but peaceful. We know of shooting wars going on now at various places in the world, including Ukraine. But even here in this country we talk of “culture wars.” Our political discourse has become crude, polarized, divisive.

Is there an antidote to this division? I think Philmont provides us space to reflect on this question. For many years, I have thought of – and often described – Philmont as a “demilitarized zone.”

 Are there conservatives and progressives here? Of course. Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians and Socialists and others? Absolutely. Christians and Jews and Mormons and dozens of other religions? Yes. All of the above.

But in a very real sense, when we come to Philmont we check our ideological weapons at the door. Whatever our politics or religion, we are united in a love for this place, Philmont, and the trans-forming work it has done in our lives and in the lives of more than a million young people across many generations. We come here because, despite our differences, we love this place, and we know in our own lives the good it has done, and we want to see that good work continue.

I think Zeke Palnick modeled this idea of Philmont as a demilitarized zone. Make no mistake, Zeke was a progressive who championed progressive causes, but he did so in ways that brought others along, or – when that was not possible – at least allowed a friendship and a spirit of conviviality to continue. To further explain what I mean, consider that at the time of his death, the governor of Arkansas issued a proclamation honoring Zeke, and I’d like to read a portion of it to you now:

Rabbi Zeke joined with his brothers and sisters of all races and religions as a leader in the civil rights movement. His wise counsel to so many progressive groups and individuals changed for the better how we all live together as equal and valued human beings. At a time of great trial and tribulation, he came forward to show the warmth of compassion and the fire of justice. Throughout his life he pursued justice, equality, understanding, cooperation, and amity in his leadership of interfaith endeavors and in his personal interactions.

The words of this proclamation are remarkable enough. But they are made all the more remarkable when you consider that they were penned by the Republican governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee. The fact that a conservative Republican – who was also, I might add, a former Baptist pastor – would say by official proclamation such words about Rabbi Zeke Palnick tells us that not only did Zeke have the respect of friends on both sides of the religious, political, and ideological divide, but he was also what I like to call – drawing the phrase from Scripture – a “person of peace.” His life was both a model for and a challenge to us, now, to live as a “person of peace” in a divided world.

Home

A few moments ago I shared with you some of the words on Zeke’s tombstone. But there were other words. His tombstone listed all the places he had lived in his life. Let me read to you those places: Montreal, Cincinnati, Miami, Tuscaloosa, Little Rock, Albany, Georgia, Iowa City, Philmont. These were the places that Zeke, at one time or another in his life, called home. And now you know why the governor of Arkansas would write a proclamation honoring Zeke. Arkansas was one of the places.

The fact that he also put Philmont on the list, and placed it last, speaks to his love for the place, and to the fact that in fact he did live at Philmont, off and on, for decades.

Zeke is not alone in thinking of Philmont as home. Many of you, I know, feel the same way. In fact, in the 1980s or 90s, I don’t think anyone knows for sure when, Philmont staffers started referring to Philmont as “Heaven On Earth,” and shortened that phrase to the acronym HOmE.

While perhaps not intentional, I think associating Philmont both with heaven and with home is actually quite profound. It is aspirational. For most of us, Philmont is neither quite heaven nor quite home, but it contains elements of what we hope and dream heaven, our ultimate and true home, will be. So I think it’s important to note that for us and for Zeke, Philmont is our home.

But only for a while. We come to Philmont, but we also leave Philmont, and we go back to other homes, homes where we have family and friends with whom we have made a life and participate in community and, hopefully, do good in the world.

But I think we miss the lesson of the list of cities on Zeke Palnick’s tombstone if we think of Philmont as our final destination. Philmont is a place to which we are drawn over and over again, but it is a place from which we also, most of us, must depart over and over again. We cannot stay here in the mountains.

So I think one of the lessons of Zeke Palnick’s life is that we can depart refreshed, renewed, inspired. We can leave equipped to be better friends, people of peace, in our true homes scattered around the country and around the world.

I hope these few words appropriately honor Rabbi Zeke’s memory and life’s work. More than that, I hope they en-courage us to follow Zeke Palnick’s exam-ple: to take the lessons of our Philmont HOmE back to our other homes, so that we might make them more compassion-ate and just places.

About the author: Author, radio host, and past PSA president Warren Cole Smith (75-79 and 84-85) served on the Philmont staff as a PC at Ponil, ranger, training ranger, Rayado coordinator, CD at Crater Lake, and PTC family programs coordinator. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Roberta "Birdie" Rose Jayne loved the outdoors and was a founding member and Senior Patrol Leader of her Troop in Iowa. Her Philmont legacy ran deep. Her parents, Christine and Reggie, served on staff, as did her sisters Adrian and Mackenna, and her aunts Heather and Kathleen Metz-Duncan. In 2024, Birdie completed the Rayado trek, and like so many, something in her was permanently changed by it. She found deep personal growth on those trails, formed friendships that would last, and came to regard the experience as the highest point of her Scouting life. She had plans to return for an OA Trail Crew and hoped to become a Philmont Ranger. Sadly, she did not get the chance.

Following Birdie's untimely death in early 2025, her family asked that donations be made to a PSA scholarship in her memory. What followed was remarkable. In less than nine months, the "Rayado Rose: The Roberta Birdie Jayne Scholarship" reached full vesting, sustained by more than $25,000 in contributions from friends and family. The scholarship exists now to ensure that other young women will have the opportunity to experience the life-changing Rayado Trek.

Later that year, Birdie's father Reggie gave $25,000 more, establishing a second fund in her name. "The Roberta Jayne Educational Scholarship" will award an annual $1,000 scholarship to a Philmont seasonal staffer, helping them pursue their educational goals.

The PSA is profoundly grateful to the Jayne family and to every donor who helped bring these scholarships to life. Birdie's memory lives on not as an absence, but as an open door for those still on their way.

By David Jung
Published in the December 2024 edition of High Country.
Reprinted from the December 2004 issue.

A mid-year “Christmas” has been a long-standing tradition at Philmont. Let us now unfold the history of the first such Christmas:

By all recollections, the first Christmas was in 1951 at Ponil. Summer staff members that year had enjoyed themselves so much that they genuinely were sorry they would not be together in December at Christmas time.

“Then why not celebrate Christmas at mid-year – July 25, and make merry now,” suggested the camp director.

And so it came to pass that the word went out from the North Po(le)nil to all camps that a celebration would be held on July 25. Many other staffs responded that they would attend. Bobby Brooks, round-bellied cook at Ponil, was selected Santa Claus. Together with his elves, Santa began to create toys and favors.

A grand feast was prepared consisting of native reptiles, fowl, rodents, and other delights. A Christmas wassail was concocted from materials that lay about or were otherwise obtained, however inappropriate for a Scout camp.

All enjoyed the celebration immensely, but few were prepared for the other events of that day and evening. First, a pony was born in the Ponil stables, not an unusual event, except that the mare was not known to be pregnant and that very day had been used for a tough trail ride.

Second, all the three chaplains, notorious for their accident-prone driving habits in carrying out their camp visits, arrived at Ponil singing Christmas carols in a jeep that was undamaged in any way.

Third, seven wranglers from the WS Ranch, spending the night in a nearby cow camp, arrived saying a ghost rider had appeared in the night sky and, in a loud voice, told them to go to Ponil.

Fourth, the North Star became very bright – almost as bright as the moon. Then later, about 11:00 p.m., the Mayor of Taos Pueblo and two of his chiefs arrived at Ponil bearing gifts of silver, pottery and maize, saying the star had led them.

Finally, little Virginia, visiting sister of one of the Ponil staff members, shouted, “Merry Christmas and God bless every-one!”

And so occurred the first “Christmas” at Philmont.

 About the author: The late David Jung, Philmont’s “first ranger,” was a frequent contributor to High Country before his untimely death in 2004, with many of his stories reporting the “tall” side of Philmont’s history.

By Ed Pease
High Country Editor Emeritus
Published in the July 2025 edition of High Country

If you didn’t know much about Waite Phillips before that first day you arrived on staff, it didn’t take you long to realize what a remarkable man he was and how fortunate you were to be a beneficiary of his vision in a place that would change your life. Perhaps at first it was as simple as understanding the impact he had on each of us as he lived a couple of his best-known epigrams: “The only things we keep permanently are those we give away.” “Real philanthropy consists of helping others, outside our own family circle, from whom no thanks is expected or required.”

His gift was more than a place. It was that, to be sure – and what a glorious place it is – but it was a place imbued with his character, an understanding of what is important in life, and the great gift we have been given to share that life with others of like character. Over the course of that summer, the fortu­nate among us came to understand the magnitude of the experience with which we were blessed and how it reflected Mr. Phillips just about everywhere we looked. “The only way to slow down time is to get a job you don’t like.” “The most effec­tive sermon is expressed in deeds instead of words,” and so much more.

And for so many of us, those blessings continued long after we left the ranch as we set out on the trail of life with memo­ries that created a better understanding of how life could be lived, and the people we were lucky enough to share it with. Waite Phillips died more than 60 years ago, and though I never met him person­ally, he touches my life even today – as he has for the million who have hiked the Philmont trails, and the millions more who have been touched by those who have.

Most of us associate Philmont and the Phillips family – now in its fourth generation at the center of the Philmont experience – with the powerful pan­oramic photographs where the mountains meet the plains, the majesty of the Tooth of Time at sunset or cast against an azure sky, or the trails (and the trail food!) and all those experiences which are the stuff of legend the minute teenagers board the bus or train headed home.

But the man who foresaw what could be done directly with and for young people in his beloved mountains also foresaw what could be done in a differ­ent way through a different program, but one equally as powerful. The wisdom that prompted his character-building, life-changing gift, from as early as his second gift to the Boy Scouts, envisioned a place to train those who would train others, extending the reach of his special place to so many who would never be so lucky as to trek its trails in person.

Even though the training center is often secondary in Philmont recollec­tions, its impact for generations has been as significant, if not in many ways more so, than its better-known counter­parts on the west side of Highway 21. There are of course, the direct impacts of lessons learned (“The man who never makes mistakes never makes much of anything”), experiences shared, and friendships begun. Some of my closest Philmont friends were once part of the PTC staff – Gene Schnell (“Unit 41”), War­ren and Missy Smith, Ken Davis. Others, just as important in my life, are known in Scouting precisely because of their impact through PTC – Mark and Janet Griffin, current General Manager Andrea Watson. There are many more. All have touched my life and made it better – as I’m sure has been the case for thousands of oth­ers who either staffed or studied at PTC through the years.

And so it is important to me, and I think to all of us especially as we celebrate this 75th anniversary of the Philmont Training Center, to reflect for a moment on yet another of Mr. Phillips’ remarkable understandings – that a vi­brant and inspirational training program for those who would lead Scouting “back home” could dramatically improve the quality of the Scouting experience for everyone, even those who would not be fortunate enough to set foot in the Sangre de Cristos. Those whose Philmont experience begins at Camping Headquar­ters often encapsulate it in three words: people, place, and program. For those on the other side of the road, the same is true, and just as fervently held.

Especially in these days of acute challenge for Scouting, the impact of these trained and dedicated volunteers is needed more than ever. They inculcate in the next generation values that last a lifetime, and along the way, will inspire those especially fortunate few who will someday hike Philmont’s magic moun­tains themselves.

Author Ed Pease served multiple summers as a faculty member for courses at PTC. From 2003 to 2016, he chaired the Philmont Training Center Task Force on the Philmont Ranch Com­mittee. E-mail him at edward.pease5147@gmail.com.

By Phil Winegardner

Third in a series highlighting opportunities to provide direct service to Philmont.

Published in the June 2025 edition of High Country.

This article explores Volunteer Vacation, another PSA event providing direct service to Philmont. As the program prepares for its tenth year, it’s always been focused on Philmont’s trails – the sidewalks of HOmE.

Volunteer Vacation originated in late 2015 when Lee Huckstep, PSA board member, observed a similar program operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club utilizing volunteers to help maintain and improve trails in the northeast region. He brought the idea back to Randy Saunders, PSA executive director, and Kevin Dowling, Philmont’s general manager. Working together with Director of Program Mark Anderson and Director of Conservation John Celley, plans were quickly put in place to begin the program in September 2016.

The Conservation Department had the perfect project to kick off the first Volunteer Vacation. Philmont had long been looking at ways to begin utilizing a large untouched portion of the ranch around the Cimarroncito Peak area. There had never been a trail to that 10,475-foot mountain situated in the middle of an imaginary triangle formed by Sawmill, Cyphers Mine and Cimarroncito camps. The new vacation volunteers would have the honor of breaking first soil for a trail to the top of Cito Peak.

Registration for the inaugural Volunteer Vacation sold out immediately. Thirty PSA members jumped at the chance to return HOmE and give back to Philmont. They arrived in mid-September, completed over 800 feet of new trail, and left a week later, having made the first Volunteer Vacation an unqualified success.

On arrival at the ranch, volunteers spend the first night at CHQ getting organized, but quickly head out early the next morning in a convoy of trucks and Suburbans. After establishing their camp- site near the work area, they immediately begin working on trail construction under direction of the Conservation Department. This work continues for the next five days. On Thursday, work stops early, tools are put away, camp is broken, and the volunteers hike off to a new destination. This is a chance to see a little more of the backcountry, relax, enjoy one more evening campfire, and usually get closer to a pickup point. On Friday, the volunteers return to Base Camp for cleanup and a recognition dinner at the end of the day. Everyone departs Philmont the following morning.

Over the span of nine years, Volunteer Vacation has assisted with the construction of four distinct sections of trail at Philmont: spur trail to Cimarroncito Peak, connecting trail between Sawmill and Cyphers Mine, trail to Cito Peak trail from Webster Parks, and a new connecting trail from Sawmill to Webster Parks.

Five of Volunteer Vacation’s first nine years were spent on the Cimarroncito Peak spur trail. This trail originates approximately halfway along the trail between Sawmill and Cyphers Mine.
Work began in 2016 and ended in 2021 when the volunteers added a connecting trail from the summit down to a magnificent overlook area: a rock talus field that opens up to provide a spectacular panoramic view of Tooth Ridge, the eastern New Mexico plains, Villa Philmonte, and the southern peaks of Philmont. While working on the Cito Peak spur trail, the volunteers camped at Whistle Punk. That relatively new (2015) trail camp is located one mile southwest of Sawmill and provides beautiful, flat, wooded campsites with a normally flowing spring not too far away.

After the Ute Park Fire in 2018, the volunteers took a one-year break from the Cito Peak trail to help in the joint emergency effort to complete a new trail between Sawmill and Cyphers. Along with fall conservation staff, the volunteers completed over 3,000 feet of new trail
in just six days. This trail was needed to help Philmont handle new itineraries created in response to the fire damage.

With the Cito Peak spur trail finished on the west side of the mountain, the volunteers turned their attention in 2022 to the east side of Cito Peak. That trail had already been started by various groups and was coming up from the Webster Parks area. The volunteers camped at Webster Parks for the week while working on this trail. For the past two years, Volunteer Vacation has based out of Sawmill, working on the new trail that begins at that camp and heads in a southeast direction toward Webster Parks. It will intersect with the new trail coming up from Webster.

Volunteers eat quite well during the week. Large quantities of fresh food are trucked in at the start, along with gas burners, propane tanks, utensils, tables, and tarps. The volunteers take turns with the cooking and cleanup chores. The fresh food also includes complete lunch fixings, allowing the volunteers to pack their own lunch choices each morning to take to
the worksite. Nightly campfires always closed the days at Whistle Punk, often with a Dutch oven dessert. Life is good during Volunteer Vacation!

VV life got even better in 2023 and 2024 when the work was based at Sawmill. Volunteers still camped in their tents of choice, but cooking operations were able to take advantage of the facilities at the cabin. And, just last year, the Conservation Department further enhanced Volunteer Vacation by providing a dedicated cook for the week. A ready cooked hot breakfast while enjoying a beautiful sunrise from the Sawmill porch doesn’t get much better!

Volunteer Vacation is trail building, plain and simple. But it’s not an exclusive former Cons employee get-together. It’s for any PSA member, regardless of where you’ve worked previously. Volunteers have come from every Philmont department. You may know nothing about trail building, but you’ll quickly and easily learn from the great conservation staff and the other volunteers. The work is hard, but you’re not competing against anyone. You work at your own pace.

 

“58 Peaks” conqueror Michael Rounds, who doubles as an IT professional in his other life, has embarked on a huge project to preserve a key part of Phil-history: backcountry camp legacy boards.

Back in the days of yore, camp staffs would often “leave their mark” on their cabins at the end of a summer by inscribing their names on some part of the structure – most often a ceiling beam. By the early 90s, that tradition had gotten a bit out of hand, with some cabins sporting dozens of years of staff names scrawled here and there. Someone (or some staff) came up with the idea of “legacy boards” – wooden planks or panels that could be kept for posterity without leaving the proverbial trace on the cabin itself. That became particularly important as the ranch began building new cabins to replace old structures that would then be demolished, with loss of the history written in the rafters. Fortunately, Philmont management embraced the concept, and now the ranch provides materials to the staffs to create their unique boards.

The Ute Park Fire of 2018 prompted Rounds to start this project when he learned of the total loss of the cabin at Dean Cow (where he had once worked) and all of its on-site legacy boards. “I wanted to create a record of these boards to make sure they were preserved and wouldn’t be lost in another event like that,” he said. He started with his own collection of photos of boards and staff cabin write-ups that he had accumulated on years of Philmont and PSA treks. He’s since had the PSA staff requesting staffs each summer to provide photos of their legacy boards to add to the collection, which is available for viewing online at https://legacy.philtrek.com.

MAY 2025 UPDATE: Michael will be contacting camps this summer to keep the collection building to include 2025 boards.

Check out the collection, as of May 1 at 812 and counting, to see if your staff’s board or cabin writing is there. If not, and you have a photo of it, Rounds would like to add it to the collection. “I’m always look­ing for contributions,” he says. E-mail him at legacy@philtrek.com.

Each year the PSA awards $1,000 scholarships for Seasonal Staff that helps them financially with their continued education and certifications. In 2024, the PSA provided over $35,000 in seasonal staff scholarships.

Here are a few “Thank You” notes from 2024 scholarship recipients.

I am so grateful to have had the “life changing” experiences Philmont has given me. It has not only shaped me, but my whole family and something that I can carry with me everywhere I go. Thank you! 
-Tessa Fasching

Thank You PSA!
I am very thankful for being able to receive this scholarship. I am currently in my third year of college out of state. Philmont has done so much for me and I am grateful that the PSA is able to continue with it. Thank you again!
-Willa Kelpe

As my time in college begins to wane, I wanted to reach out and say thanks for the opportunity you have facilitated over the past few years. Your generosity has allowed me to get through my undergrad years stress free. Although my time in school will be missed, and the free summers that came with it, I am both ready and excited to move on down that road. If you find the time, come visit me at Rich Cabins summer ’25 for some hot food, a fun show and great company!
Sincerely, Matt Shoemaker

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to you for awarding me the PSA Seasonal Staff Scholarship. I was ecstatic to learn of my selection for this scholarship, and I am deeply appreciative of your support.

Having been a participant at Philmont three times and having the opportunity to work at Philmont in the Conservation Department this last summer have made such a huge impact on my life and my goals. The financial assistance you have provided with this scholarship will be of great help to me in paying for educational expenses as I continue my studies at Stephen F. Austin State University, majoring in Forestry and Fire Ecology.

Thank you again for your generosity and support. I will continue working hard and hope to eventually give back to others as much, and more than I have received.
Sincerely, Marek D. Kania

I wanted to write this letter to express my gratitude for your decision to help me with my college education and career aspirations by awarding me one of the PSA scholarships. I looked at multiple colleges my senior year of high school but none of them spoke to me the way University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee did, especially their environmental science program. However, that means that I would be attending UWM out of state from California. This would obviously come with some additional costs so I greatly appreciate the PSA’s generosity with awarding me this scholarship to help offset these costs.

After my first Philmont trek in 2021, I knew two things: 1. That I wanted to work in the backcountry one day. 2. That I wanted to continue to work with and connect with nature. 

My amazing summer 2024 working at Beaubien allowed me to complete my first Post-Philmont trek goal. Then with the help of this PSA scholarship, I am continuing to work towards my second goal.

So thank you again from the bottom of my heart, Kaitlyn Lund

I am honored to be one of this year’s recipients of a PSA Scholarship. Thank you so much for making this scholarship possible. This scholarship is helping to make my continued education possible. I am incredibly grateful to have been selected to receive this award and for the academic opportunities it has given me.

Currently I am a Senior in the emergency services program. I have decided to continue this program because my experiences in it have confirmed my love of serving my community as an EMS provider. I am proud to say that I passed my National Registry Paramedic exam this past May thanks to the emergency services program and instructors. This semester I am working on my capstone research experience to help expand the field of EMS research. On top of school, I recently started working as a paramedic for Botecourt County Fire & EMS. 

I would not be the person that I am today without all of the experiences that Philmont has given me. My three summer seasons have allowed me to become a better leader, more confident, and build friendships that I never would have made elsewhere. The lessons I learned there will continue to serve me throughout the rest of my life.

Again, thank you so much for making this scholarship possible. Your generosity is helping me to succeed in my academic career.
With gratitude, Ashley Patterson, NRP 

Donate to the Educational Staff Scholarship Fund here.

Last year the PSA launched Career Connections with the introduction of the new PSA website Member Community area. Noted in the March 2024 edition of High Country magazine, “the goal is to encourage and facilitate career knowledge-sharing and networking among current and former Philmont staff,” said Denice Toney, Vice President – Membership. 

Career Connections is a program for PSA members, “newly entering the workforce, those interested in transitioning to a new career, and even those who want to grow their current careers,” Denice says. “We want to provide resources and connections with PSA members who have experience and want to help those following in their footsteps. These experienced PSA members can provide information, help, advice, mentorship, and encouragement to those less experienced. And the best part is that everyone involved has Philmont as a foundation and can understand how that uniquely ties us together and positions us to be successful in any chosen careers!” This program’s goals include:

• LinkedIn Group: post job and career questions and get support from PSA 
  members.
  
• Summer Career Meet-Up: current staff can meet and connect in person with PSA members with a variety of career backgrounds.
  
• Job Board: view job postings submitted for companies that are interested in former Philmont staff.
  
• Virtual Career Speaking Sessions: interviews to learn about specific PSA members’ career paths.
  
• Virtual Career Advice Sessions: general job and career advice, with a Philmont perspective.
  
• Search PSA Membership: find other members with the career experience you are interested in to make direct contact.
  
• One on One Mentorship: a mentor working directly with a mentee to develop their career over a period of time.
  

Denice says that the hope is to have Career Connections events and opportunities lead to PSA members also having informal communication and conversations to support career growth of our members. Members who are interested in supporting Career Connections should reach out to Denice Toney at membership@philstaff.org. 

Visit the Career Center in the PSA Member community here.