uwharrie national forest

Angeliz Vangas and Hanniah Rodriguez made a big impact serving as interns on the National Forests in North Carolina and are now heading back to school and continuing on their road to success.

As part of the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), this summer Vangas and Rodriguez interned in the U.S. Forest Service’s engineering department in Asheville, N.C. SCEP provides work experience that is directly related to the student's academic program or career aspirations and gives students exposure to public service while enhancing their educational goals.

The civil engineering majors are rising seniors at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and have a passion for engineering. Both are members of the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, where they serve as treasurer and secretary, respectively.

Under a new program to help veterans re-enter civilian life and find career-oriented employment, eight military veterans visited the Uwharrie National Forest near Asheboro, N.C. as part of their summer program to gain experience in developing historic preservation skills, they restored a historic site of farm buildings on the forest.

“I recognized the importance of preserving these buildings for generations to come and am grateful to be just a small part of the process,” said Tyler Price, a veteran and history and anthropology student at California University at Fresno.