Laura Schliesske

“Welcome to Sky Meadows!” I never get tired of sharing my enthusiasm for the outdoors, and especially this park, with the visitors I meet here. I am eager to tell my story and tell people that working in the Visitor Center here is the best job I ever had.

I enjoy being outside among the Blue Ridge Mountains every chance I get and Sky Meadows has long been one of my favorite places.

I have fond memories of the first camping trip I took here, and what a relief it was to get out of the city and “away from it all.”

Even though I had been coming to Sky Meadows as a visitor for over a decade, I had never been inside the Visitor Center until I brought my daughter to participate in the Junior Rangers program, when she was six. That was really the first time I had the thought “Hey, maybe I could work here?”

There was an opening for Contact Ranger, so I applied. Lucky for me, I got the job. It did not take very long to realize that I had landed my dream job.

One of my favorite parts of working at Sky Meadows is talking to visitors about our trails and our hike-in primitive campground. I am excited to fill the role of Public Relations and Marketing Specialist for Sky Meadows, since I now have even more opportunities to share my passion for this beautiful park. I know from my years of coming here, what a welcome respite it can be to escape from the rat race of the everyday. I never imagined that I would get to come here for my “work” too.

The photo shows my daughter and I releasing a monarch butterfly which I helped raise from an egg in the Visitor Center. I even made the dress my daughter is wearing.