Behind the Parks: Meet Sarah Zinsmeister at Glacier Ridge

Sarah Zinsmeister
Park Ranger, Glacier Ridge Metro Park

Hometown and Background

My dad relocated a lot in his work for Abbot Laboratories, so we were frequently on the move. Every two or three years, we seemed to be on the move again. We spent time in California, in Chicago, in New Albany here in Ohio, and also abroad, in Malaysia and in Frankfurt, Germany. With my older sister, Ellie, and younger brother, Timothy, I went to some great International Schools in both Malaysia and Germany. It was sometimes scary to be moving so frequently, and having to make new friends all the time, but I actually credit it with helping me to develop my communication skills. We can talk to just about anyone, and about just about any thing.

As all three of us approached our high school years, our parents decided they wanted stability for us, and they also wanted us to go to high school in America. My parents are originally from Cincinnati, so have strong Ohio roots, and they had enjoyed our previous stay in New Albany. So New Albany is where I ended up going to high school. At least, partially so. I applied for and won a place in the MOSAIC program for high school juniors and seniors. Only a couple of kids from each of 10 schools in the Columbus area get in to the program. So my last two years of high school involved mornings at New Albany High School, studying math and sciences, and the afternoons in downtown Columbus on the Mosaic program, which is project-based learning designed to meet the learning needs of kids with specific attributes, such as being independent, original thinkers, intellectually curious and creative with an interest in the arts, and committed to having a voice and making a difference in their communities. There were lots of guest speakers, presentations and field trips as we studied local histories, social studies, the creative arts, English and the humanities.

I got a really good and rounded education that was a great preparation for college. My sister Ellie had gone to OSU to study in the sciences and now works as an environmental technician for MAD Scientist Associates, which is an ecological and wetland consulting firm. She inspired my choice for college. I went to Ohio University in Athens, starting in 2019, and graduated in December 2023 with a degree in environmental biology.

While still studying, I applied to Metro Parks for a seasonal position over the spring and summer of 2023. I actually applied for a seasonal naturalist position, but my interviewers thought a seasonal ranger position might be better for me. I wasn’t sure about that at the time, but as soon as I started the work I loved it. I began in May 2023 as a seasonal ranger at Scioto Audubon Metro Park. After the season ended, I was taken on staff as a part-time ranger, also at Scioto Audubon. About a month after I graduated, a full-time ranger position opened up here at Glacier Ridge Metro Park. I interviewed for the position and was delighted to be offered the job. I started here at Glacier Ridge in February this year.

What I do at Metro Parks and what I love most about it

Because the ranger team at Scioto Audubon also patrols the Greenway Trails outside the park, there are more full-time rangers on staff than at a typical park. I was able to learn so much from the team at Scioto Audubon and was ready to take on the added responsibilities required of full-time rangers when I started work here at Glacier Ridge. This includes more administrative work, keeping track of attendance at the park, logging all of our positive visitor interactions and recording any verbal warnings we have to issue. The paper work aside, I’d say that as much as 90 per cent of my job involves interacting with our visitors. People love to chat and I enjoy talking to them, whether they might be first-time visitors or among our many regulars. Some of them I see every day, including a lady named Dee with her dog, Ginger, and a lady named Jani who bikes here every day, but always stops for a chat.

Just being outside is my favorite part of the job, whatever the weather might be. Every day is a learning experience for me. It’s really cool to work at a place that is so open and accessible to the public, with no financial barriers to stop anyone from coming here. I like to encourage people to spend more of their time outdoors and am proud to tell them that everything we offer here is free. I love big events, with lots of people in attendance, such as the annual Winter Hikes. The Metro Parks Outdoor Adventure team has an office here at Glacier Ridge. I sometimes worked with them to help out with their climbing programs at Scioto Audubon and hope I might get to work with them again in the future on other kinds of programs.

My favorite Metro Parks activity

There are a few activities offered at Metro Parks that I really enjoy personally. These include the climbing wall at Scioto Audubon, which is great fun, but even more exciting is the via ferrata at Quarry Trails Metro Park. A group of staff from Scioto Audubon was given the chance try it out, so I got to experience the thrill of using it for myself. I got together with a few friends to use the 3D archery course at Scioto Grove Metro Park, which has these life-size foam targets of wild animals. My favorite target was a very large deer. The targets are replaced periodically, as they take quite a hammering over time, and I believe they even have foam dinosaurs as targets these days.

My favorite Metro Parks story that includes a positive visitor interaction

When I had just started as a part-time ranger at Scioto Audubon, I was out on patrol and noticed a large group utilizing one of our no fee shelters. I went over to greet them, and much to my surprise, the group turned out to be led by two of my teachers on the Mosaic program. They were doing their First Day of School Picnic, and they had never done it at a Metro Park before. My teachers were as surprised to see me as I was to see them. Obviously I was wearing my ranger uniform, and they said something like, “Oh, we thought you would be working as a biologist by now,” and I was able to tell them that my career had taken an unexpected path, but a fortunate one, as I loved being a ranger and doing what I did. Not unexpectedly, they said that, in this case, I should give a talk to the 20 junior high-schoolers they had brought to the park, about what it was like to be a ranger and why I liked it so much. It was one of those wonderful ‘life has come full circle moments’ and I happily accepted their invitation.

Traveling – places I’ve been, places I’d love to go

In 2021 I spent the entire summer on the small Indonesian island of Nusa Penida, which is near to the more famous beauty spot for tourists, the island of Bali. I wanted to work with wildlife on a cultural exchange, and diversify my job experience before starting a career. It was the most affordable way to travel. I worked at a center with the goal of repopulating the island with native green turtles and hawksbill turtles. I persuaded a friend of mine, named Chloe, to apply for the same role, and we were interviewed separately over Zoom. The interviewers made it plain that we shouldn’t expect anything too fancy at the center, that we’d be living in very basic communal digs with a common kitchen, and that if we were ever to need a doctor or other health services we’d need to take a 45-minute boat ride to the mainland. It was all about the work.

I was there from the beginning of June to mid-August and learned so much about the people of Indonesia and their culture. They are very hard-working and have a deeply ingrained sense of community and togetherness. We worked very long hours on very hot days, and would eat and socialize with our bosses at the end of the day.

Turtle eggs would often be found in the nets of local fishermen and they would be brought to the center. We would take many of them and then raise the hatchlings until they became large enough to release back onto the island beaches and into the sea, confident they could survive. We had 30 very large tanks in which we would raise three or four turtles. We would spend a lot of time catching crabs and fish to feed to the turtles, and a lot of time wading in the tanks as we cleaned the turtle shells with brushes, to clear them of threatening bacteria. It was so rewarding to watch them grow and finally be able to release them into the wild. We had very little time for sight-seeing, but the island itself was beautiful, with a hilly interior and gorgeous white sand beaches and aquamarine seas. It is also internationally noted as a bird sanctuary. We were also able to visit Bali and experience its dramatic beauty for ourselves.

I am headed to Jamaica imminently for a friend’s wedding. I’m looking forward to spending time on a Caribbean island, although we’ll only be there for four days. At some time in the future, I would love to visit Australia. I made some Australian friends at the center on Nusa Penida. They live on the Australian Gold Coast, up near Brisbane. A visit there would be great, and I’d also cherish the chance to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef.

Fun facts about me and my family

1. Adopted! My sister Ellie and I were adopted as new borns, and our brother Timothy was also adopted, when he was about 18 months old. Our birth parents were all from different cultural backgrounds. I have Greek and Italian blood in me, my sister Ellie is from a German and Irish background, and Tim’s background is Russian. Family, and the three of us kids especially, was the one constant in our lives as we did all that relocating for our dad’s work over the years, until finally settling down in New Albany.

2. Mandarin Chinese! Our parents speak German, and all of us kids were able to speak it when we were based in Frankfurt. But they were keen for us to learn Mandarin Chinese and Ellie and I were introduced to it when we lived in Malaysia, and then studied it in middle school. When I went to Ohio University, my course required two years study of a language, so I went even more in-depth with Mandarin Chinese. It’s a complicated language, because the meaning can change depending on the tone you use to speak certain words, which can mean something entirely different if the intonation varies. I can converse easily with fluent Chinese speakers, but it’s definitely a language you need to keep up with.

3. My cat! I never thought I would love a cat. Growing up, we would sometimes have dogs as pets, but never cats. Then one night, working at Scioto Audubon, a very tiny black cat, with a badly injured leg and half starved to death, came limping out of the shadows and approached me in the ranger truck. It was the night before Thanksgiving, and all the rescue shelters were full. I was with a ranger colleague, Naomi, and we convinced one shelter to take the cat, or rather, kitten, as he was only about 7 months old. As we drove to the shelter, the kitten climbed through the truck console and settled down on my lap, even though I was the one driving. That made an immediate bond. The shelter took him in, but he stayed on my mind, and about two weeks later I called at the center and said I had to take him. His leg had been so badly injured that the vets had to amputate it, so my sweet little cat has only three legs, but is doing great now.

My favorite food and dessert

If I’m in the mood for some fancy eating, I can’t think of anything better than a rib-eye steak. It’s a really fatty and flavorful cut of meat and I love it cooked medium rare with a serving of mashed potatoes and roasted carrots. I also love all kinds of pasta, especially with a vodka or Alfredo sauce. I usually add chopped-up baked chicken to the sauce when I do my own cooking. I enjoy cooking. My roommate and I both work late and we like cooking for each other. I always enjoy her salmon and asparagus, which she cooks quite often.

For dessert, I love a good cinnamon roll. For my birthday this year, our assistant manager Katie bought some lemon buttercream cinnamon rolls that were absolutely the best I’ve ever tasted. My mom makes great cinnamon rolls too. One of the best things I’ve made myself was a double-tiered chocolate cake with buttercream, which I made for a friend’s birthday.

My favorite entertainment

I’m really into books, not so much movies or TV shows. A non-fiction book I’m currently enjoying is “Let My People go Surfing.” It’s written by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the successful business, Patagonia. It’s subtitle is “The Education of a Reluctant Businessman” and is a story of how a business can be both profitable and sustainable in terms of environmental and social concerns. One of my favorite novels is “Six of Crows” by Leigh Bardugo, a fantasy crime novel that we read for our Book Club here at Glacier Ridge. It’s a book club for some of the rangers here. Each month someone new picks a book and we all read it on our own time. It’s great fun and gives us something to talk about besides work.

Other books that I’ve enjoyed reading recently include “Tuesdays with Morrie,” which is a true and inspiring story by Mitch Albom about a student who meets weekly with his terminally-ill former professor of sociology to rekindle an old friendship and rediscover ways to live your best life. Another great read was “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” by Ned Vozzini, a fictional tale but based on the author’s own mental health journey about the pressures to succeed in high school and in life, and how the creative arts can be used to help overcome debilitating depression. I also love all the Harry Potter books, and especially the fourth one, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

If I had just 60 seconds to share why I love working at Metro Parks, I’d say…

I love being outdoors and talking to people, and I get to do that every day and get paid for it. I’ve also developed excellent relationships with my co-workers and have complete trust in them, which is just a great credit to Metro Parks and the people we have working here.

Sarah Zinsmeister was talking to Communications Coordinator, Virginia Gordon

What Glacier Ridge Manager, Jerry Strosnider, says about Sarah

“Sarah recently joined the Glacier Ridge/Homestead family as a full-time park ranger, but almost immediately became ‘one of the gang.’ Coming from Scioto Audubon, she got to witness a wide array of incidents and events as a part-time ranger that would report and assist the full-time ranger… now she is learning to be that full-time ranger that the other part-time rangers turn to. I have enjoyed watching her start to grow and experience those moments that will mold her into the type of ranger she will become for her Metro Parks career. Looking forward to seeing what comes next!”