Meet Jasmine McManama and Zach Norman, the 2026 Brownsburg Parks Natural Resources interns.
Jasmine and Zach spend their days maintaining Brownsburg’s parks and trails. They have gained hands-on experience trimming trails, mowing, spraying herbicide, and using power tools. Additionally, they have each been assigned plots of land to create development plans for, helping them build skills in site analysis, risk assessment, and land-use modeling.
Jasmine is a recent graduate of Ball State University, where she earned a degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Management. She has been accepted into the Indiana Arborist Apprenticeship Program, a three-year training program where she will receive mentorship and gain hands-on experience to become a certified arborist.
Jasmine’s favorite part of the internship has been the opportunity to build on what she’s learned in the classroom and gain practical skills. “When I first came into this internship, I didn’t have a lot of confidence using tools like hedge trimmers and chainsaws and all that,” she says, “but now I feel a lot more confident with using these tools.”
Zach is a graduate of Brownsburg High School and currently attends Cincinnati State University where he studies Horticulture and Landscape Design. He’s no stranger to Brownsburg Parks, having worked as a seasonal employee last year, and is excited to return as an intern to continue caring for the community while earning college credit.
“I love taking care of the parks,” Zach shares. “I feel like the work we do – taking care of the trails, working on the trees, and the stuff people see every day – it’s very rewarding.”
One of the biggest projects Zach and Jasmine have been tackling this summer is maintenance on the B&O Trail. The Town of Brownsburg manages the portion of the trail between Green Street and Raceway Road, and the two interns are out at least once a week with hedge trimmers, weed whackers, mowers, and herbicide to keep the trail clean and walkable.
From hands-on work to developing their own land management plans, these interns are gaining both practical and analytical skills that will be invaluable as they enter careers in natural resources.
