August 5, 2019 |  The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) and the Stewards Program have a years-long partnership through which dozens of interns and AmeriCorps members have gained experience with the agency. Stewards members provide valuable services to help OSMRE achieve its mission, while gaining experience in areas like GIS, Hydrology, and even Web Design or Communications. OSMRE strives to help their Stewards members gain the experience to transition into a job with the agency.

Chike Etumudor has served as an AmeriCorps Member and Intern over nearly 3 years with OSMRE. Based out of the Tulsa, OK office in the Mid-Continent Region, Chike routinely performed field work with mobile GIS sessions and created GIS maps of active and abandoned mines across multiple states. Now, Chike takes his experience to a permanent Cartographer position with the agency. Check out what Chike is thinking as he takes this exciting next step in his career!

“My experience as an intern for the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation has been a well fulfilled journey. Throughout these past 3 years, I have seen and learned many things that have been helpful in my development... My favorite AmeriCorps experience would have to be the AmeriCorps Spring training that I attended in Washington D.C. It took place at the ESRI Federal GIS Conference. I was able to network with people within the GIS community and meet people that work at OSMRE Headquarters... I am very excited for this new position that I am starting. I believe this will put me on the right path in excelling and furthering my career goals. I look forward to what the future holds and I feel very blessed to have the opportunities that have been presented to me.”

Learn more about OSMRE’s Youth Program and the work AmeriCorps Members and interns like Chike do.