Week 9: Interpretation

 This week, I'm shadowing Ranger Sam for an insider's view into the heart of National Parks, interpretation. Through interpretive programs, an average day out becomes a memorable journey. Interesting exhibits add a new dimension to your trip, guided tours paint a vivid picture of the past, and interactive displays bring the park's stories to life. These elements enrich a visit and create a lasting connection with the park. In short, interpretation is about more than information—engagement, education, preservation, and personal connection. Interpretation elevates the visitor experience, turning an ordinary park visit into an extraordinary journey.

Ranger Sam and Tom informed me about various techniques interp rangers deploy when presenting programs. For example, adjusting to environmental factors is critical to programs. An interp ranger that sticks to the scheduled program will not acknowledge anomalies, while an experienced interp ranger will acknowledge abnormal events and attempt to weave them into their program. Ranger Tom experienced such a dilemma during his program. He developed a new interpretive program for twelve (12) kids. The kids were split into two groups: Swedes and Dutch. Each group had to decide where to settle in the Brandywine Valley. One of the participants became disruptive because they wanted to avoid working in groups. So, Ranger Tom added a third group to appease the juvenile. Soon after, the kid became more disruptive, and Ranger Sam had to step in. But Ranger Tom handled the situation like a pro.

The next day, Ranger Tom and Lexi showed me various projects interpretation was working on and multiple spots along the trails I had yet to come across. During the tour, Lexi told me about the different volunteer organizations that work with FRST. In addition, she and Ranger Tom answered my outstanding questions at the time.

 My last day at FRST felt like the last day of a beautiful course in college. I went into HQ prepared to say my goodbyes and continue the journey. My presence at FRST was not a big deal. I was just another intern leaving, making room for the next. This day, Friday was filled with many meetings. Earlier in the day, I saw the FRST staff passing around a card and signing it. The card was for another intern, Mario, who is also leaving. The suspense of when they would give Mario the card was prevalent during the meetings. Then, Sonja and Sam escaped and came back with Pizza and cake. While everyone scattered, I was given a card. I was in absolute shock and did not know how to respond. My brain couldn't compute this action.

As I read the heartfelt scriptures, I realized the arduous journey to FRST was worth it. Thanks for having me, FRST!

Week 8: Resource Management

 The ability to figuratively wear different hats is talked about a lot. I noticed that the LE rangers at INDE did not perform duties from other divisions. I mainly saw them do Law Enforcement duties. Reciting the park's history is Interp, but that is familiarizing yourself with the environment. Anywho, the division I shadowed this week was Resource Protection. My supervisor was the Natural Resource manager, Sonja. She is a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) specialist, a compliance officer, a contract writer, a natural resource manager, and a Biologist. In a previous post, I mentioned that Alan proposed a project for Barnyard Stables. The project would need to go to Sonja because she is the NEPA specialist. She reviews the project and identifies whether or not it will harm the park's resources. 

The next day, I shadowed Sonja while she visited Spotted Lanturfly plots with Heather from US Forest Service. We did not find any Lanternflies, but there was a lot of plant life. Sonja and Heather examined the plant life and looked for invasive and native plants. From their venture, I learned Posoin Ivy is not invasive to FRST... unfortunately. Also, Sonja taught me how to spot Sasifraz by its' mitten-like leaves. 

Week 7: Facilities Management

 This week I shadowed Alan, Everette, and Toby for facilities management. My week with them was the highlight of my internship. 

For the first day, Alan (Chief of Facilities Management) wanted Everette and me to trim tree branches along the trails. Everette utilized a pole saw to cut branches. Then we threw the debris to the side to clear the trail. Sometime later, Alan met with Everette and I so we could take a break. While trimming trees, Alan discovered that an oak tree had fallen. The tree was huge! I could push it, but all I did was hurt my pride. Moving the tree requires planning, so we returned the next day to clear the path.

The next day, facilities management had a strategic internal meeting about the fallen oak tree at a Diner. In short, we spoke about the plan for removing the oak tree. Toby would operate the machine, Alan and Everette would use chainsaws, and I would be a spotter. After the meeting, we went back to the park headquarters. Before leaving HQ, Alan went over various safety procedures. He assigned me as the safety officer. He went over who to call in case of an emergency, How to provide emergency services, our coordinates, And the location of available first aid kits. We then geared up and traveled to the fallen tree. We completed the tree removal in a few hours. The heat made it feel like we were outside for days. Ultimately, Alan permitted me to pick up a log using the claw machine. I thought using the machine would be complicated, but it was not. If given more time, I could master using the machine. Once I master this, I will be one step closer to operating Mechs.

Later in the week, Alan wanted Toby and me to take measurements for a Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) project. After we took measurements, Alan entered the information into PEPC. PEPC facilitates transparent and informed decision-making in various projects and policy developments. An aspect of PEPC is interdisciplinary review. Someone from another discipline, such as Architecture or Resource management, will review a PEPC project for any issues a proposed project may have on the park's resources. The entire process could take a while to complete, so Alan emphasized the importance of being concise when proposing projects.

Week 5: Good Bye INDE & Hello FRST

  Hello all,  

My time working the night shift is coming to an end. I will transition to First State in about a week to finish the internship. A lot has happened since my last post. For one, two rangers returned from FLETC and began field training. The Nightshift Supervisor, Ranger Fahey, took on the 'Field Trainer' role to train one of the returning Rangers. Part of the field training experience is to engage in various scenarios.

 One scenario was based on traffic stops. Ranger Fahey observed and critiqued the trainee based on their performance. 

 One day during a patrol, Ranger Pitts discovered a man sleeping in front of the Liberty Bell Visitor Center. The man lying on the ground was someone we encountered earlier in the day; he seemed completely different. The person before us could barely move, and his speech was sometimes illegible. Soon after, Ranger Sean arrived at the scene. At the same time, Ranger Pitts got the man to stand up. The Rangers worked together to determine who the man was and how he got there. 

After some time elapses, Ranger Sean asks for a device that allows them to search for someone based on their fingerprint(s). The device was brought to the scene by Ranger Fahey and Ranger Sarah. The Rangers provided information to dispatch, and no one wanted him, meaning he did not have warrants. The man became agitated by the situation and reverted to a sleeping pose. Ultimately, Ranger Pitts and Ranger Sean resolved the issue by escorting the man to Penn Hospital.

Week 4: Night Shift, Firearms, and Darkness!

 My last day working on the day shift at INDE was Tuesday, and I started working nights on Saturday. I was initially intimidated working day shift because there were many people. Fortunately, I was able to navigate day-to-day routines thanks to all-day shift rangers. I will utilize the techniques and strategies for my remaining time at INDE (and beyond). Here are a few important things I learned during the day shift. 

Park rangers face many perils throughout their tenure. One of the most important aspects of being a Law Enforcement (LE) ranger for the National Park Service is the ability to carry a firearm. Title 54, the General Authorities Act, allows commissioned park rangers to carry firearms. A gun is a dangerous weapon that must be handled in a particular way to avoid unintentional discharge(s). For that reason, there are 4 (four) rules every ranger must know to utilize a firearm safely.  The rules are:

1. Always keep your gun pointed in a safe direction. 
2.  Treat guns as though they are always loaded.  
3. keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on your intended target.  
4. Always be sure of your target and what's behind it. 

 Additionally, commissioned rangers must undergo training and/or certification to utilize firearms after a fixed period. I experienced rangers undergoing firearm (re)certification at one time. As previously mentioned, all rangers must know the rules for firearm safety. The firearm instructor, Deputy Chief Fernandez, asked his class of Rangers what the rules were before entering the firing range. The Rangers in the class knew the correct answers to the response.  

My first night on the night shift was an experience. The difference between the morning and night shifts is night and day. Firstly, rangers that work during the day are responsible for opening various areas. On the other hand, night shift rangers are responsible for closing the aforementioned areas. So, I shadowed Ranger Terry while she performed her nightly duties. The most jarring thing about the night shift is the low visibility at times. As a result, many areas throughout the park have become viable hiding spots for juveniles and transients. We came across a transient in the 18th-century garden while closing. He left the area without causing a scene. 

Sometime later, we received a notification from dispatch that there were gunshots heard near Edgar Allen Poe's house. Ranger Fahey and Terry responded to secure the Poe house. While investigating, Range Fahey discovered one of the doors was unlocked. The rangers needed to secure the entire Poe house to ensure no one was in the building—spoiler alert. The rangers did not find anything out of the ordinary outside of pictures of Edgar Allen Poe. 

Week 3: Haze, Permits, and Birds

 Good morning, good afternoon, and good night,

This week was very odd, to say the least. Independence (and Philadelphia) experienced a thick haze of smoke. Canada was the progenitor of the miasma inflicted on us. The good vibes prevalent in the park were replaced with melancholic ire. Many visitors wore masks due to the poor air quality. Overall, the wildfire from our northern neighbor reverted the city to a pandemic-era environment. 

The fog cleared a few days later, and things returned to normal. There were a few events on the docket. One was for the Armed Forces recruitment event. A plethora of soldiers from different ranks were in People's Plaza. 

In addition, a prayer for the Islamic Heritage Festival was held across the street next to the Visitor Center. 

The Islamic Heritage Festival's flyer said there would be a parade on June 10th at 1pm. The parade would start at 1 N Independence Mall and end at Penn's Landing. Upon my arrival, I did not see anything resembling a parade. The only event I saw was for an Indigenous People's Day event at People's Plaza. I want to end this blog on a good note.

One day, I noticed a bird on the Liberty Bell Center during patrol. It was a neat place for a bird to make a nest. Unfortunately, other animals think the same way. Ranger Fitzke informed me that bird limbs can be found around the INDE because new hatchlings fall out of the nest, and animals eat them. Talk about spawn camping...

Week 2: Reenactments, Pride, and Violence

 This week was particularly interesting in contrast to last week.  For one, two big events occurred. The first event was recreation for Memorial Day, and the second was a pride parade. From my experience, people usually have family gatherings or visit a grave site of a deceased veteran. So I assumed there would be a small turnout at INDE on Memorial Day. Inversely, INDE saw a great number of tourists come through. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred about crime.  The big event was a reenactment and flag-raising taking place outside Independence Hall. The reenactment took about half an hour, and visitors enjoyed it.

I attended court with Ranger Morales on Tuesday.  Ranger Morales was summoned to court because he witnessed a crime a while ago. Unfortunately, his case was not the only one that had a hearing. Twenty (20) cases needed to be heard by a judge, and the case Rager Morales is part of was the last one. On the bright side, I got to experience court proceedings for various types of offenses. Many of the scheduled hearings were continued to another date because the police officer was unavailable. In addition, there was an instance of an officer not appearing for a court hearing twice. The Judge requested the assistant District Attorneys to find out how long the officer would be out 'sick.' Watching court proceedings and interactions between lawyers gave me insight into the legal process after arresting someone. 

As previously mentioned, the Pride Month parade was the second big event this week. The parade is not a sanctioned  National Park Service event; the generated crowds

 overflows into INDE's jurisdiction. INDE has concurrent jurisdiction with Philly PD.  The jurisdiction at INDE is commonly described as 'curb-to-curb" because park structures are often separated by city streets. The Pride Month  Parade occurred in the streets of Philadelphia, so Philly PD has sole jurisdiction over the parade. But Philly PD and INDE can work together for crimes committed on park property.  Philly PD did an excellent job throughout the protest. A group of counter-protesters with 'triggering' signs was at the Pride Month Parade. For example:

As a result, protesters from the parade began to react to the distasteful signs, and Philly PD had to protect the counter-protesters. Similar to the Pride Parade and affiliates, the counter-protesters are exercising their first amendment rights. A fight would have more than likely occurred if Philly PD was not in attendance. 

Sometime later at the parade, Ranger Fitzke and I are approached by a man. According to the man, a lady kicked his daughter because she was trying to touch her dog. The man understood that the dog in question was a service animal---he felt the woman should not have kicked his daughter. Ranger Fitzke made contact with the woman, and she said she did not kick the child. Rather,  she extended her foot to separate the child from her service animal. In addition, she informs Ranger Fitzke that the accuser has been following her since the incident occurred. Ranger Fitzke heard both sides of the story and told both parties to take a walk away from one another to cool off. Both parties complied and left the area. I could have seen the situation escalate due to the woman's dog. As Ranger Fitzke and the woman spoke, the dog jumped at Ranger Fitzke. I thought the Dog was not being controlled when I saw it lunge at Ranger Fitzke, but it was friendly. 

Week 1: Leashes, Fleas, and a Dilema

 Hello all,

This is my first blog post, so tell y'all about myself. My name is Jamil Weathersbee, and I am a ProRanger from Temple University. In addition, I am a Criminal Justice major at Temple.  I was born and raised in Philadelphia. This blog(and future blogs) aims to record my journey at my internship. My internship will be at the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia and First State in Delaware. The first day of my internship was on May 24 at 0500. Many stores had to change their hours. So,   most stores were closed at 0400. I did not anticipate this, so I was very tired. 

Soon after, I met my supervisor, Ranger Fitzke, at the Law Enforcement Operation Center. Then, Ranger Fitzke took me out for foot patrol. Our first stops were opening gardens. Ranger Fitzke answered any questions whilst debriefing me about NPS policies and history. In addition, he informed me about a series of common violations that I will see at INDE. One of the most common violations is having a dog off-leash. The violation can be solved by telling a person to leash their dog; Ranger Fitzke exemplified this with each contact. At one point, I asked Ranger Fitzke about how common public nudity is in gest; soon after, we are approached by a man in Washington Square during patrol. The man informed us that an African-American man pulling his pants up and down while sitting on a bench. In addition, the informer says the man seemed 'lucid.'  The reported individual was about 15ft from us. The man looked unkempt and was only wearing jeans. A reasonable person would be in the right to assume the man could be homeless. Ranger Fitzke had a conversation with the man at a safe distance. Based on their conversation, Ranger Fitzke discovered that the man was scantily dressed due to insects on him. After the conversation, the man wore a shirt and continued his day with a verbal warning. 

Another memorable contact occurred at the Constitution Center. Ranger Fitzke was notified that someone was parked in a handicapped spot. We arrived at the area and saw a vehicle with a handicap sign on the spot. I thought the reported vehicle had already left, but the handicapped vehicle was the violator. The parking spot was exclusively for buses that needed handicapped access. Therefore, any vehicle parked in the spot can be towed. Ranger Fitzke asked the folks inside to make an announcement to get the car owner's attention. The employee was not able to make an announcement because shows were playing. Fortunately, the building's employee identified the owner, and he moved his car. The contact concluded positively because we did not have to tow a vehicle in a handicapped spot.

Summer 2023 internships and an end of an era

In July 2022 the National Park Service began hiring permanent law enforcement rangers through the Law Enforcement Hiring Initiative (known informally as “direct to FLETC”).   So it is with mixed emotions that we announce that the final two student interns will be completing their internships in Summer 2023.

ProRanger Philadelphia was established in 2009 as an academic and technical skills training and internship program that was cooperatively administered by the National Park Service and Temple University. Participants took academic coursework and participated in trainings and internships to gain exposure to the career field of a law enforcement park ranger before attending the Park Ranger Law Enforcement Academy (previously known as the Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program). Students who successfully completed the program were eligible for non-competitive conversion to a permanent law enforcement ranger through a direct hiring authority.

In summer 2010 the first ProRanger interns took part in summer internships. Since then a total of 94 students completed internships at 43 different national park units.  We thank the countless rangers who have made this program possible by dedicating their time to mentoring these students, exposing them to the life of a law enforcement ranger, and helping to determine whether a career as a U.S. Park Ranger was right for them. 

We are especially proud of the involvement of our ProRanger alumni for giving back to the program and to Temple University by volunteering their time to train and mentor the next generation of law enforcement rangers.  This summer, Rangers Jess Cooper, Nick Fitzke and Jordan Keiffer are serving as internship supervisors.  In addition, we are fortunate to have alumnus Ranger Moe Greene serving as the acting program director.

We hope that you will continue to follow this blog to learn about the experiences of the last class of ProRanger summer interns:

• Caitlyn Clay will be interning at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO)
• Jamil Weathersbee will be splitting his time between Independence National Historical Park (INDE) and First State National Historical Park (FRST) 

Learn more more about the NPS Law Enforcement Hiring Initiative or employment as a law enforcement ranger on a seasonal basis at Temple’s Park Ranger Law Enforcement Academy.

Night Shift and a Site Visit!

Beginning on the 22nd, I spent a week working night shift at Independence Hall with former ProRangers Nick Fitzke and Jordan Keiffer. It was tons of fun to get to see what working at a park with 24-hour operations is like – and it felt a little bit like Night at the Museum during our walk-throughs and building checks!  

I started the week on Thursday and spent my first three days with Ranger Fitzke, then finished up with Ranger Keiffer on Sunday. Thursday night was pretty quiet – we went to the Deshler-Morris House and the Poe House, neither of which I had been to before, and I got some good PT in.  

 

 

 

Notably, on Thursday night, we were lucky to have former Superintendent (of Buffalo River National Park) Kevin Cheri as a guest speaker in our weekly internship class. Mr. Cheri was the first ever Black employee of Buffalo River National Park when he started there as a Law Enforcement Ranger in 1978. He continued his career at many different parks over the years, but ultimately returned to BUFF as Superintendent in 2007. Mr. Cheri offered a remarkable perspective as someone who served the agency for 43 years and ended up championing and prioritizing diversity in the park service throughout his career. (You can hear directly from Mr. Cheri about his story in an oral history podcast he participated in at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/oralhistory/podcasts-episode-8.htm ).  

On Friday, I took the obligatory Liberty Bell picture during our building check:  

 

And we were alerted to the presence of kittens in the garden outside the bell center! Traps were set out for them and the orange one was caught by the morning (although his brother was a little more elusive!). They will be either neutered and released or adopted out.  

 

Saturday was a lot busier. We started the shift with a report of an elderly man walking around naked outside of the Bell Center. Thankfully, by the time Ranger Fitzke and I arrived, one of the other rangers had been able to get the man’s pants back on, and we just waited with him for an ambulance to come so that he could get an evaluation since he was a little agitated. He then went to the hospital for a voluntary mental health visit.  

Later that night, someone broke into Carpenter’s Hall. They forced the front door, damaging it in the process, but they didn’t take anything, and security footage later showed that they spent most of the time they were in the building taking pictures of themselves there. Unfortunately, the front door of Carpenter’s Hall is historic, so they damaged an important historical artifact for the sake of a few selfies.  

 

Sunday was pretty quiet as well, but we went down to Gloria Dei Church (which is part of the park) and walked through some of the museum exhibits connected to Franklin Court, including a really cool one about archeological findings in the Franklin Court Complex called Fragments of Franklin Court. Since the building isn’t usually open to the public, I felt really lucky to be able to see the exhibit there.  

 

 

After my week on night shift, I had a couple days off and then had a chance to work with the park’s administrative division. I spent Wednesday and Thursday with Cecily Wood, who splits her time between FRST and INDE. I learned a lot about the budgeting and purchasing processes and we handled some PIV card appointments. Then, on Friday, it was time for the ProRanger Site Visit! 

 

The site visit was a ton of fun – it was great to have a chance to show Mr. Luongo and Dr. McGarvey around where I have been spending my summer. We did a short hike at the park and then went to the New Castle Court House Museum for a guided tour, then had lunch in New Castle.  

In the next few days, I’ll be finishing up my time at FRST and getting ready to start the academy, so expect one last blog post coming soon!