Inventory, Front Desk, and BBQ all in a weeks work!

List of Inventory 

My second week here at Gettysburg, I learned a lot about administration, or as I will learn to call them, the unsung heroes. This division is responsible for so much more then I would have ever thought. Monday, I started out with getting a tour of the upper level of the Gettysburg Visitor Center, where all of the administration, officials, and Gettysburg foundation staff are located. I also got to meet all of the other employees, and made many new contacts that if I ever need a question answered, I know I can believe in them to get my answer. Administration handles many different tasks that you wouldn’t truly classify under “administration”. Such as doing inventory on all electronic equipment, something that you would expect the IT department to do. But at GETT, they lost their IT person for now, so it is added under the administration tasks to do. I was fortunate to be able to help them with this overwhelming task, by doing inventory at one of the barns on the property where extra supplies are held, as well as doing inventory on the IT room. It was a long and tedious task, but I was very happy in being able to help out  administration, and see what doing inventory involved doing.

My house for the Summer! Let the BBQ begin!

On Wednesday, my housemates and I hosted a welcome back BBQ, which I was told has been a tradition at our house for many years. The BBQ was a great chance to not only have a good time, but was another opportunity to meet more people, and build upon the relationships that I had started during the first week of this great internship opportunity. It was a great night, making stronger friendships with the Interpretive interns I had meet during the first week. I also had the opportunity to talk to the wife of one of the LEO rangers that had just got transferred to Valley Forge National Historic Park. While talking with her, I found that he was very involved with the fire/wildland division of the park, and has been for many years. I was able to get his contact information, and am going to be working on getting my red card so that I can help in any firefighting/ wildland fire fighting activities that can occur in the park. Many people that I have meet so far don’t know that I have been a volunteer firefighter for three and a half years, and finding this out got me super excited to see where this could lead within GETT and also within the NPS!

LEO Ranger office and car 

On Thursday, I was back with Interpretation to learn on how to open and close the visitor center, how to work the front information desk, and the procedures in case of an emergency whether fire or a possible mass shooting situation. It was a great introduction for me to learn what I will be doing when I go back to the Interpretation division in mid-July. I will be sitting at the desk, answering any questions that a visitor may have, whether battlefield related or not. When I am not doing that, I will be going on tours with other rangers to see how they give their tours, and see how the public enjoys them. I am very excited about it, because I love interacting with people, and seeing the joy on their faces when they are having a good time, or because of a question that was answered about a problem that was causing them stress. The mass shooting presentation was given by Dan, one of our LEO rangers. This grabbed my attention, because this is something that I will possibly be involved with one day, whether on duty or not, and I want to learn as much as I can on how to stop these people so that others can survive and get out. It was not only crucial for me to know, but the other interns as well. It made me feel good as well when after the presentation, that I was able to share personal tips to the others on how I would go about it, and how to keep calm when your adrenaline is high, something I go through all the time when responding to fire incidents. It was yet another fun week full of information and new experiences, and I can only imagine what the next week will bring me in maintenance!