Dispatch for a day !

          This week I was fortunate to shadow behind Matt Henninger, He is the Administrative Security Assistant for Independence National Park Service. I got to sit in on a debriefing about Freedom Week (July 4th) . Every person that was involved in the meeting was either active chief of their division and  the superintendent of Independence. In this meeting they went around talking about the Pros and Cons of what happened during the festivities and how they could improve or keep certain things the same. There were events such as Free Hoagie day presented by Wawa, Pops concert, the parade and so forth. Security had to be alert and overall they agreed that the week went as planned and to more successful years to come.
           I was extremely excited to become a dispatcher for the day. In my opinion it is a very important job; not only do you answer the phone or watch cameras but behind the scenes you're responsible for the on duty officers and staff around the park. With that you have to be alert and understand the variety of different protocols being thrown your way at different time or even at the same way. A dispatcher is someone who a officer calls into the radio, giving them their whereabouts or upcoming contacts with a pedestrian. They also log in everything that comes over the radio; this keeps track of reports for upcoming court cases or even something simple like checking if a work order for something broken in the park was placed.
          While at dispatch I was given the opportunity to speak to the officers over the radio and according to one officer he didn't even notice any mess ups and I sounded like I've been doing this for years. That's was pretty good to hear because while up there the fist half of the day I wasn't as confident to say things over the radio or reply back to their requests. I had to do a big announcement that lead to me calling out to all officers, making them be aware that a car on a certain street had the right to be parked on federal park property. With this I gave out the model, make, color, and license plate and location to confirm that this particular vehicle was allowed and no reports should be called in. Any incoming radio reports I logged it into the database with the persons location and name. That way we have recorded showing for any future problems. I had a very eventful week and was able to soak up a lot of very insightful information.

Interp Week ‼️

Spent my week with Interpretation. Sadly, This was the last division that I had to visit for a week. They were amazing and very honest in the way that they proceeded to do things. I had the pleasure of shadowing two regular interp rangers, who go from post to post answering questions and guarding the buildings. Being able to be on the inside looking in has helped me gain knowledge on all they have to deal with. For the first two days I went and helped guard the Liberty Bell, Second Bank, Independence Hall, West Wing & The Benjamin Franklin Museum. They explained in detail how every building works, what they look for and exactly what to say to the visitors.

A life size Benjamin Franklin

Standing next to the “Rising Sun Chair” where they signed the Declaration of Independence  

In the Benjamin Franklin Museum it is kid friendly and instead of the usual DO NOT TOUCH it says PLEAS TOUCH, I found that pretty cool. 

As the week went on I worked with a Tour guide Interp, they told the visitors the history behind each building on the tour and it was truly amazing hearing them speak so passionately about the buildings. The tours consisted of Congress Hall, where they explained the importance of the court and how it functioned. The popular tour is the Independence Hall tour and that’s where they signed the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I even went on the Ben Franklin walking tour; where guide walk around the park talking about the history behind his work. Lastly, I was able to to help out at the Visitor’s Center where I helped give out tickets and boy does those tickets run out fast. It’s given out on a first come first serve basis and by 10am the desk can be either sold out or on the 3:00 tickets already, with the line wrapped around the hall and people waiting for tickets. Some can make reservations and others just come with hopes they get an early ticket. They also hold these Junior Rangers books where little kids can visit each building and fill out the booklet for each building and at the end of it come back to the visitors center to earn their Junior Rangers Badge. I had a fun time explaining to people the different things they can do around the park and guiding them to the things to see. 

I enjoyed my time with Interpretation and once again I was left wanting to spend more time with them. They were very joyful and it definitely showed on the visitors who thanks them and complimented how great they made their experience. 

Going Back to Back

    

#Week 5

          This week finished up very quick. I was back with cultural resources for the first two days, which was eventful. Previously in my second blog post I talked about the Bishop  White House an how I did start to finish inventory on the items inside of the house. As for this week I went back with Mrs. Gloria and did inventory inside of the "Todd House." This house was not as wealthy but well kept and had a lot of levels to it. We then proceeded to go back to head quarters to sort and numerically put historical documentation in the right spots. The next day I was assigned to help turn the page of the constitution; I was able to witness and help move the declaration and constitution to a safe room to see if they had any damage or leakage. Instead of oxygen there is a chemical infusion that is put into the containers with the documents to help preserve its form. Oxygen may be good for us human beings to inhale but it also can cause paper material that was made back in the 18th century with bamboo trees; overtime the paper would be in crumbles if the cases were not sealed correctly. This process is very time consuming and you would really gave to have the patience.
There was one leakage in the constitution frame and to drain it out; the export would tilt the frame case and wait for the oxygen to get most of the oxygen out. This procedure for about an hour to an hour and 30 minutes. After this I met back up with Gloria to help sort out historical items and make sure they were all in right spot. Culture Resources is a incredible important department anad you can learn a lot while being there.

Liberty Bell At Night

                      As you can see in the picture The Liberty Bell at night is such a beautiful sight.

Interdependence Hall In the Background 

At night for Law Enforcement we also go around and check and secure each building on this particular night I found that one door was unsecured. With this I told my supervisor and he called for backup to do a full building check; no one was inside, someone just forgot to close the door behind them. Safety is very important and in this line of work you rather than be safe than sorry. 

Night Shifts Vs Day Shifts

Week 4,

       

 In day shift I would observe people coming to the park to engage in the festivities surrounding the park. From giving directions and watching people go on tours to night shift where people are caught urinating, smoking and drinking on federal property at all hours of the night.

         I started off the beginning of my week securing, checking doors, locking gates and making sure people weren't engaging in any foul play around the park. Seeing the park at night is a different atmosphere then during the day. Night time you're more aware of your surroundings and able to see things in a different light. I was able to witness my first public urination in a closed area contact with three individuals who each denied that they had done it and resulted in each collecting a citation. Ranger Keiffer helped assist while I observed them interact with the individuals. Later on that night a woman appeared to be walking across the park intoxicated and not able to walk straight. Ranger Keiffer with a few other rangers made contact while I observed. Thee lady wanted to drive her car but that could not happen due to her intake on alcohol; her uber was called and she went home instead of getting behind the wheel. We even encountered a vehicle being driven down the wrong side of a one way street. The person took the wrong turn and ended up having to turn right back around to get on the right side. Imagine headlights coming towards you on a one way. Day shift you encounter children taking tours or people visiting from all over the world to enjoy the park .

         The following day I was able to shadow Ranger Dunlap. In our first hour we were able to give out two citations. Citations are tickets you give a person to pay within 30 days and if not paid then a court date is sent to their home and they have the choice to fight the case and go before a judge. The first citation was given to two individuals out of a group of four. One was laying in the grass with an open beer cans wrapped in a brown paper bag. Ranger Dunlap then proceeded to ask one guy if the container that was in arms reach of him belonged to him, but he denied it. The second guy who had the container in his hand, but did not deny it. This was very intriguing because they both were issued a citation. However they had two different reactions; the first guy who denied the can exercised his first amendment and continued to the whole time of the interaction. He voiced that he did not own the beer can and that it could be anyone's. The next guy was calm and understanding of his actions, even was having a chat with Ranger Dunlap. Towards the end the citations were handed to the guys and left.

         The next citation was a man caught smoking a brown burnt cigarette. He was very cooperative and handed over all evidence in which case was 3 rolled brown cigarettes. Ranger Dunlap seized the evidence and gave him his citation and sent him on his way. I experienced how to fluently detain and collect evidence. I was able to test and weight the suspected evidence which came back positive for marijuana. We then noted it in the records book, filled out the information describing the evidence and secured it in a sealed bag before dropping it inside the evidence box. That was a very eye opening experience to seize, test and detain evidence. The amount of work you have to put in is all worth it in the end to keep the park safe. 

        Night shift is eventful and I actually prefer it over day shift. It is definitely eventful and shows you what really happens when you leave the park during the day.   

 

 

Maintenance MVPD"Most Valuable Park Division"

        
This week by far has been my favorite week! I had the opportunity to work with the maintenance division and work hands on around the park from changing oil an air conditioner to using a leaf blowing and power cleaning a fountain.
          My first day I was given a tour around the shop, seeing the different departments within the maintenance division. They have the carpenter shop, painters shop, woodcraft shop, utilities and electrical shop. I spent most of my time with the utilities shop. They were welcoming and showed me the ropes of the building. The first day I was in the shop I was shown how to turn on light bulb without plugging anything into a socket. You take two of the same colors and twist the wires together black to black and white to white, you then stick the ends of the wires in a cap making sure it’s secured. Once that is done correctly your light bulb should automatically turn on. That was an awesome experience.
 

                                                Behind the scenes of The Famous Pool
         For two days we worked on the fountain in Washington Square located between Walnut and 6th Street. The fountain referred to as "the pool" by maintenance usually shoots up into the air about 8 feet and was only going about 4 feet up in the air. In the picture two guys named Will and Drew worked on finding out why the fountain was not at the correct height. I was able to help in being the eyes for both of them when things got a little complicated. We got to the root of the problem on day 2 by draining the fountain, taking apart the pipes and cleaning them out. We found papers and leaves clogging the pathway where the water flowed. After cleaning out the unwanted items out the pipes the fountain was back up and running. To fill up the fountain it takes a total of 6 hours.

"Hey Look Abraham's Looking At Us."

     As the days proceeded I got the opportunity to spend a day with the lead landscape architect for the gardens, placed all around Independence. Every Wednesday Mrs. Susan does work on some of the gardens with volunteers who come on their free time to help. Mrs. Susan educated me on different flowers and plants we would be working on, as well as educate me on some of the plants they have that people come from all over just to see. There were different variety of tools and how to use them for different jobs around the garden. We cleaned up the garden and was able to remove any unhealthy plants and let others plants have space to grow to their full potential.

 

"Dusty Miller"

Over all my experience with maintenance was pretty fun and very well taught. These guys showed me things that may not be thought of in a regular persons mind. If I had to choose so far I would love to keep helping maintenance every now and again. The experience is phenomenal and was a pleasure. It’s a lot of older guys who enjoy what they do and crack jokes to get themselves throughout the day.

Cultural with a Twist

          My second week has arrived and it was well spent learning the importance of the division of Cultural Resources. Join me on my experience.

   This is the library and it holds a lot of valuable and important information.

Cultural Resource has stored over time some ancient look but can’t touch information[1] . This was my first week being away from the Law Enforcement Division. Some of you may ask: “Destiny'' What is that?”

Well it’s a department that deals with all the artifacts and behind the scenes of the park. In this division the first day I was able to go through documents dated all the way back to the 1770s and present years. While doing that I put in order the dates that were missing based on the dates on the file given. When film is being stored, any colored motion picture or valuable film has to put in a below zero freezer to maintain how it was first seen from years before. The following days I did the same thing with putting in order the dates but instead of documents, I was handling historical items. Then for two days I was given the opportunity to do inventory check in two buildings “The Todd House” and “The Bishop House” they both had distinct items with numbers written on them to identify what they were.

As you can see, the first picture is the Cultural Resources library, but it’s not just any library. Inside, the division stores items from the 17^th and 18^th Century.” I was able to handle at some cool things and that was amazing. There were artifacts and other items that I was able to see and handle, it was pretty amazing to experience that.

                                                               

                                                                    Bishop White House"

 

A city girl meets City Park

       

         Some may say get out of your comfort zone and try a park that is not in the city. Try a park that is way up in the mountains or based off of a river. I wanted to be in an environment that is the city but a different city from my fast pace life growing up in New York. Philadelphia definitely is a different city; it may be fast pace but it’s a lot slower than New York. Now that my first week is done and I’m approaching my second week, keep reading to find out if the city girl’s decision to stay in a city was the right one.

         Approaching the park, I thought to myself this park is huge and might be overwhelming in some trying to learn how it was developed and operates to this day. Yes, Independence National Historical Park is a busy park. From the history to the untold stories, I have definitely been slightly overwhelmed all for the greater good. I’ve learned about people I never even knew existed, such as Edger Allen Poe, he was a famous poet that lived in Philadelphia briefly and was famous for a few poems called “The Raven” and more; that would later be known all over the world. Poe even married his cousin; Yes his cousin. However, Poe was very talented and I couldn’t believe I never heard of him. I have an awesome supervisor who has also brought to my attention that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and the basketball team well known as the 76ers was names based off of that historical fact.

           I can ramble on and on about the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall being a great place to visit but I'm won’t. I do like being in a city park, its way cooler than I thought. It may not have the river or mountains but it’s definitely a sight to “see ” from the tons of people who seem really amazed by the park, to the rangers who guide them in the right direction and loving the atmosphere. To think it’s only been a week, A WEEK! This should be pretty great.

 

Welcome New ProRangers

The ProRanger Program welcomes Cohort 7 to the program.

Francis Bednarczyk

Brunilda Bilalaj

Daniel Boyce

Connor Caruso

Sarah Dover

Trevor Gardner

Destiny A Greene

Anna Howard

Tom Kidd

Quinn Kirlew

Hannah Moore

Tim O'Hanlon

Carlos E. Orellana

Laura M. Patton

Dylan T. Stephens

Tirzah E. Terry

Johan J Urena

Check back soon to learn about our 2019 Partner Parks.