From Rutgers Handshake to the Trails Playbook | Environmental Science Senior Helps Shape New Jersey’s Outdoor Future
It’s an Environmental Science major’s dream job: Helping state officials create the New Jersey Trails Playbook, which will guide government, nonprofit, and private entities as they expand outdoor recreation opportunities across New Jersey.
For Noelia Almanzar, who will graduate this May from the Rutgers University – New Brunswick School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, it’s a job that began with the Rutgers Handshake app. And a little help from the Division of Student Affairs.
Almanzar works two days a week as an hourly Green Acres specialist at the Trenton headquarters of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which is developing the trails playbook in partnership with the state’s Department of Transportation. There, she pulls together data from state agencies, local governments, advocates, and public surveys; translates complex findings into comprehensible graphics; and organizes public presentations—all to help New Jersey’s trail systems become better connected and accessible to everyone who loves the outdoors.
Before taking that job this past December, she finished a DEP internship in which she researched and proposed recommendations for new guidelines to ensure that visitors with physical or cognitive disabilities, guests who are pregnant, families with young children, and other users are fully able to take advantage of New Jersey’s parks, playgrounds, and other open spaces.
“The outdoors has always pulled me in. There’s a kind of calm to it, but also a quiet power that reminds you how much bigger the world is than yourself,” Almanzar said recently. “I’ve seen how development and pollution can limit who gets to experience nature, and how the impacts aren’t felt equally. But I’ve always seen how transformative it is when people do have access; how a simple trail or park can improve mental health, bring communities together, and make life a little more balanced.”
Starting with Handshake
It’s not easy for an undergraduate to land such a meaningful job. For Almanzar, it became possible only after she built up a reserve of skills, experience, references, and confidence through her first on-campus job.
And for that, she turned to Rutgers Handshake, the Student Employment Offices’ job recruitment platform. Almanzar was a freshman at the time. “I was looking for a job on campus that would help support me, would be close to my dorm, and could help develop my skills professionally,” she said.
Through Handshake, she applied for a position with the Division of Student Affairs’ Office of Student Centers and Activities. As a reservation assistant, she facilitated requests by student organizations and other groups to hold meetings and events in campus spaces. It was challenging at first to balance academic work with 15 hours per week on the job, but she soon learned to adapt.
“Everything from that position translated to my work at DEP: interacting with different stakeholders and responding to their needs. Paying close attention to complex details. Everything that goes into planning events and feeling confident as a leader.”
When she was a junior, Student Affairs offered her a manager position—but Almanzar had to turn it down in favor of her DEP internship. There were no hard feelings. Her mentors at the Student Centers Meetings and Events Office took time to help Almanzar and other student staff with resume help and professional workshops to foster their career development. As a testament to the time management skills she’s learned, Almanzar still holds her Student Affairs job to this day.
Mackenzie Piggott is the New Jersey State Trails Coordinator at the DEP’s Green Acres Program, and is Almanzar’s boss at the department. Piggott recently spoke about Almanzar’s impressive preparedness for the professional world, thanks to her on-campus work experience.
“You don’t always see this level of creativity and efficiency, and the understanding that behind-the-desk work can have tangible impacts on peoples’ lives,” Piggott said. “Noelia joined DEP as someone prepared to bring value to our work. When you give her a general idea, she’ll provide multiple options. She’ll ask questions when needed, and show confidence in her work and decisions. And she knows how to organize a seminar and create a polished agenda and presentations.”
Almanzar attributes that job-readiness to her Student Affairs experience that began with Handshake.
“After graduation, I’m looking toward a career rooted in environmental science and public service,” she said. Working at the DEP gave me an incredible head start; it showed how environmental science can help everyone enjoy what the earth has given us. I might not be here if I hadn’t started with an on-campus job, and I really believe any student can find the same opportunities by reaching out for opportunities through Rutgers Handshake.”
