It was an average Tuesday morning in late May. A black Infiniti G35 streaked down highway 46 in the town of Fishers, Indiana. The car lingered at the light, then turned down Allisonville Road toward a large building. The sports car pulled into a parking space and the passenger door swung open. Out stepped an average-looking, though not quite awake, teenager from the 19th century.
However strange it may sound, this is a true story. That boy is a youth interpreter at Conner Prairie. That boy is me, Zane Wright. I have been working at Conner Prairie since 2007, and about two days per week, from April through September, you'll find me here. Whether it’s throwing tomahawks in Lenape Camp or selling items as a mercantile owner’s son in 1836, a volunteer interpreter does it all. That’s one of the privileges of being a youth here. While most of the adult interpreters spend their time exercising only one skill, a youth interpreter has the unique opportunity to experience and enjoy all of these skills and more.
After I reach the youth lounge (the headquarters for youth interpreters) and check out my favorite straw hat from the costume room, I head through the top-secret, staff-only doors with some other youth and adults to our briefing, which takes place on the porch of the Golden Eagle Inn in Prairietown. During our briefing, I learn that I will be interpreting today as David McClure, a carpenter’s son and apprentice in the carpenter’s shop in Prairietown, 1836. As I hike out to post, I mentally prepare myself for the hordes of school kids and guests that I will “enlighten with my historical wisdom and knowledge,” as one of the adults likes to say. Soon, guests start to appear. First they arrive in small groups of escalating sizes, but when the school buses pull in, delivering their cargo of energized elementary students, the day starts to heat up. Around 11 a.m., when the activity is at its highest, loads of children pour into the carpenter shop, all asking at the same time, “Mister, is that fire real?” or “ Can I touch that gun?” and random shouts of, “What’s that?”
After my lunch break, the action settles down and I find myself either playing cards with a fellow interpreter or finding some work around Prairietown to do on my spare time. One of my favorite pastimes is just strolling around, picking up samples of historical wisdom from adults who are far more experienced in the ways of Conner Prairie than I am. The afternoon passes quickly, and soon I am ready to go home, take off my costume and crash on my bed. After we lock up the houses and travel back to the Welcome Center around 5pm, my dad is ready to take me home.
As you can see, being a youth interpreter is exciting, entertaining, and at the same time, serious and challenging. I definitely recommend this job to any hardworking, responsible youth between the ages of 11 and 18. In the fall, applications will be available to those interested in becoming part of the Conner Prairie youth interpreter team. We hope you will seize this unique opportunity to learn and experience Conner Prairie like never before!