My name is Brunilda Bilalaj, and I am a senior majoring in criminal justice here at Temple. To tell you a little bit about myself, I am from Albania and moved to the U.S six years ago. I attended last year of high school in Philadelphia where I graduated with the highest honors and got the president’s award for educational excellence in my graduating class. I took a year off after finishing high school and worked full time. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study so during that time I did a bit of research. I decided to start at the Community College of Philadelphia as a criminal justice major. I fell in love with the major and decided I would pursue it. I graduated from CCP and got my associate's degree then transferred to Temple. The atmosphere at Temple was very welcoming and unique.
There are many reasons why I choose criminal justice as a major and law enforcement as my future occupation. I wanted to be able to give back. Everything that this great country gave me, I wanted to contribute and become a public servant. I want to be able to help people in need and be there if emergencies arise, I want to be able to educate and inform when it’s appropriate, I want to be able to detect and deter harmful behavior, I want to have adrenaline rushing experiences that make every day different and most importantly I wanted to be able to adapt, learn and challenge myself.
I could be a police officer with any one of the thousands of police agencies in the country so why National Park Service and why ProRanger program?
The answer is simple, and I put it this way, you think you’ve seen it all, and then, you go to work. Being part of the National Park Service through the program is a fantastic opportunity. We hopefully will get to work in some of the most beautiful and significant places in the country. When you think you’ve seen it all, you visit a park, and you get shocked by all the wonders, beauties and powerful stories these places carry. No matter where in the National Park Service you work as a law enforcement officer, I’m sure that many of them at least one time in their career have seen something that blew them away. Well, that doesn’t happen as a city police officer. The ProRanger program is an enormous project, and it requires lots of energy and effort to be put together. It's a unique opportunity to educate, challenge and prepare us physically, mentally, emotionally for what is coming next. It is a hidden gem at Temple that not a lot know about its existence. The program provides a direct path to future careers by giving us so much to make us better people and better candidates. I want to thank everyone and anyone that we have met in the past months through the program and their willingness to help, guide, mentor and answer our questions. I appreciate all the support, and I’m sure the other ProRangers do too.
I am not going to be going on a LE internship this summer; however, I will be volunteering to work at Independence NHP. I will be working alongside other departments in the park such as interpretation, administration and maybe some LE. I want to be able to get a broader sense of what each department does and how they cooperate while I prepare for my LE internship next summer. I am very excited and looking forward to new experiences.
