Hospitality Stories

Extracurricular: How Sadie Slavin Compliments an Education Career

Devils Tower Lodge

Maybe Sadie Slavin always sensed that the most successful education safely nudged you outside your comfort zone. After graduating with a master’s in education, she was looking for a job to bridge the summer when a friend told her about a host position at Devils Tower Lodge. She would get to meet people from every corner of the country. She would get to rock climb almost every day. She would learn how to cook elaborate meals. The only catch? The Denver-based educator didn’t know what the tower was, let alone where it was. But she was undeterred.

“I had no expectations for what the job was going to be like,” she says. “I just had a friend that worked here and recommended it. He said it was super fun, and you get to do a lot of climbing. I was like, that sounds good—why not do something fun and different?”

As a host, Sadie helps prepare meals for guests, keeps up the lodging, and attends to any number of odd jobs that might pop up during the day. But her favorite part of the job?

“I would say the people, and not just the staff members, who are all wonderful,” she says. “It’s also getting to meet people from all over the country that come to visit. It’s fun to connect over breakfast and dinner.”

When Sadie’s not whipping up a meal in the kitchen or tidying up the rooms, she’s taking on the tower. “Prior to this summer, I didn’t have a lot of experience climbing. Getting to climb with all the guides I’ve learned a lot. It’s kind of a crash course in multi-pitch, and there’s always someone to climb with.”

When the summer’s up, she’ll head back to Denver for the school year where she’ll work at an elementary school. But next summer, she won’t wonder what she wants to do. She’ll be back at Devils Tower Lodge.

“That’s why I chose a teaching career—to have the flexibility during the summer to work in outdoor recreation. I would recommend it to people that are adventurous or want to get outside or just have ambitions to step out of their comfort zone.”