The Four Legged Park Ranger

Oscar, the explosive detection canine 

             My week had a great start. I spent the day with Oscar. Oscar is Boston National Historical Park’s explosive detection canine. I learned how training is done as well as how the park handles getting a k-9 unit. It was really exciting to learn about the importance of what Oscar does. He will be helping out at the democratic national convention down in Philadelphia. The ranger in charge of Oscar showed me how Oscar trained every day. This was really neat to watch.

I also learned about “use of force” this is something I will learn a lot more about in the academy. It was really good to get an introduction into this, especially with current events and everything else going on in the news right now. I watched a number of videos and had to answer weather or not the officer used proper force given the circumstances. This exercise really helped me learn and understand what to do in certain situations and what not to do.

Spent the day answering visitor's questions

I spent some more time with interpretation. I got to hang out at the Bunker Hill Monument and the Bunker Hill Monument Museum. I surprised myself with how much I knew about the history of the battle. I really enjoyed being able to smile and be friendly towards the visitors. I answered questions about the history and general questions about Boston. In the afternoon I moved back down to the navy yard, I sat at the visitor center and directed people toward the USS Constitution and the USS Cassin Young. I t was a lot of fun, I was able to learn even more facts from the other rangers and even some from the visitors.

Throughout the summer I have learned a lot from doing various tasks and watching how things are done. I also really benefitted from talking to other rangers about their past experiences.  This communication with other rangers has proven to be so enriching and helpful for my future. I am able to learn from their past successes and even their failures. I continue to learn and do as much as possible during this internship. It is hard to believe I have less than two weeks to go.      

It is not hard to see why I am going to miss this place after the summer ends!