On Friday, August 31, our Future Leaders completed their tenth summer of the only program in Essex County which offers young people a paid summer job working directly with our partners in the National Park Service to develop as professionals to become leaders in Essex County. At Saugus Iron Works this year, Future Leaders worked on reconstructing the waterwheels, which were the lifeblood of the iron making industry. For the past ten years, the Future Leaders have taken an active role in their communities by maintaining and protecting our most valuable public resources by maintaining the grounds and gardens at both Salem and Saugus, building fences, creating signage for National Parks around the United States, gilding the “CUSTOM HOUSE” letters, and undertaking the less glorious tasks of cleaning the bathrooms. Our youth have worked in archiving the National Park Service’s cultural resource collection, helped prepare the spars and rigging for Friendship, and lent a hand in almost every event from the Fourth of July to the Salem Maritime Festival. Through their summer experience, the Future Leaders learn how to sail, venture to partner sites, meet their representatives at the Massachusetts State House, work at the Bakers Island Light Station, and are provided resume writing and interview skills trainings. Our Future Leaders are proud to have reached a decade of the incredibly important work that they do, and truly there is no place at Salem Maritime or Saugus Iron works National Historic Sites that has not felt the skiiled touch of a Future Leader.
