Lead Volunteer

FROM: https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volunteer-opportunity/a09SJ000001nzpl

ADDRESS:

Manhattan Project National Historical Park

Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87544

DATES: 5/5/2025 – 10/31/2025

DEPT: National Park Service

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Help visitors have an enriching experience while making emotional and intellectual connections to the complex story of the creation of the world’s first nuclear weapons. Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Los Alamos, New Mexico is recruiting for two fulltime (35 hours per week) Lead Volunteer positions working in visitor center operations. These positions come with RV sites with full hookups at nearby Bandelier National Monument, 13 miles away from the visitor center work location.

The Manhattan Project ushered in the nuclear age with the development of the world’s first atomic bombs. Work began in 1942 at three secret communities across the nation. As World War II waned in 1945, the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan — forever changing the world. In Los Alamos, New Mexico, Manhattan Project administrators found an ideal location for a secret laboratory to design and build the first atomic weapons. Los Alamos became the home to many of the top scientific minds of the day: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Norris Bradbury, Richard Feynman, Hans Bethe, and other luminaries. Working together, these scientists along with engineers, technicians, and military personnel created the first atomic weapons.

Established in 2015, Manhattan Project National Historical Park is managed through a collaborative partnership by the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Energy to preserve, interpret, and facilitate access to key historic resources associated with the Manhattan Project. A small National Park Service visitor center in Los Alamos serves up to 25,000 visitors a year.

Volunteers serving as visitor center staff will:

• Staff the National Park Service visitor center in Los Alamos, NM and perform other duties for 35 hours per week.

• Create a schedule for recurring visitor center volunteers.

• Provide informal interpretation based on visitor needs and park interpretive themes.

• Represent the Manhattan Project National Historical Park and share the park mission, purpose, and story to inspire appreciation and understanding.

• Foster a greater awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the Manhattan Project history and the NPS through dialogue with a site visitors.

• Greet visitors in a friendly and professional manner and be comfortable with public speaking and engaging with small to large groups of all ages.

Qualifications:

• Volunteer must provide their own RV to use the provided RV space and RV hookups.

• Must be comfortable with meeting and dealing with a variety of people.

• A friendly and professional demeanor.

• Ability to greet the visiting public in a friendly and professional manner.

• Ability to work with children.

• Be able to address all aspects of the Manhattan Project including

challenging topics such as the America’s use of atomic bombs during WWII and the

lasting legacy of nuclear weapons.

• Ability to present complex scientific topics in a manner that is understandable and interesting to a non-technical audience.

Tagged as: SPRING '25, SUMMER '25