By Josalyn Robb, Class of 2026
This article is a part of a series of student stories of growth curated for the 2025 One Event. If you enjoy this story, please donate and tell us which student’s story inspired you to give.
An experience that has helped me grow immensely was my 2024 Summer Experience. Summer Experience is a time when One Stone students test their passions in the real world through internships, job shadows, volunteer work, or other opportunities that empower us to grow as people and as professionals. This summer, I had the opportunity to work with Evergreen Resources, an incident response team for wildfires. This was out of my comfort zone. When I joined the team I learned I was one of the youngest people for the majority of the season, constantly surrounded by people I didn't know very well. I did it excited; I did it scared; I did it overwhelmed. Each time I showed up it got a little less scary. I learned how to work well with others and never give up. I spent the majority of this summer setting up tents on wildfires and washing floors each time we demobilized them. We worked when it was dark, we were tired, and when it was so hot out we were all dehydrated and going through cases of water. I learned what it was like to work no matter the circumstance because when it comes to wildfires they work on a quick schedule. I had roughly a two hour warning before I needed to be up to Idaho City. Each time I did it I had a team that showed me what it was like to work together and never give up on each other no matter what. The people that I worked with never gave up on me and I was constantly able to ask questions and think of new ideas. I learned more about myself and how to work effectively. We would be held to a high expectation on fires. Evergreen is well known for how good of a company they are and when we would travel to the fires we were expected to maintain this level of professionalism.
This year was a bit of a crazy fire year, which meant I was rarely home. I would be home just long enough to do laundry and shower. This led me to stay up in Idaho City a lot, and I grew a second family in ways I never knew I would or could. This Summer Experience pushed me in ways I have never been pushed before. The people I met and the memories I made will last a lifetime and I couldn't be more grateful for that. I was able to make new friends along the way that became family. I have known my boss and his wife since first grade but I haven’t had the opportunity to spend much time with them for years, this summer though I spent a ton of time at their house in Idaho City most times more than my own. I met amazing friends and we would spend time having cook-offs and “tea time” at her house. When it came to fire camps we became professional, we were able to be our own little family no matter what. On fire camps I learned quickly that although we had ordered a certain amount of tents, the Forest Service would at times want more or less than what they ordered. You constantly had to work on the fly not knowing what to expect. We used zip ties and duct tape for practically everything… I was and still am finding bundles of zip ties everywhere and it's a great reminder of the fun experience I got to have. Seeing us all have to separate from each other I never knew how hard it would be. One of the people I became the closest with went back to Arizona and some of us just haven't had time to get together. After this summer family means something different to me. When I think of family, I think of Evergreen.
