Our week with Administration

Battery Weed at Ft. Wadsworth

Last week we were able to work with Administration in Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island. Since Gateway has three separate locations, Sandy Hook, Jamaica Bay and Staten Island, they need to have one central location where the entire important decision making happens. Monday we went up there with our supervisor and we were introduced to every all the Human Resource workers and some of the people who work with the budget. We spoke with them for awhile just to see how everything gets handled, as far as, the application process and how to work together with HR to work out small issues that the other parks within Gateway may be dealing with.

Tuesday, we were able to drive ourselves there. Once we got there, they did not have too much stuff for us to do, so we took that time to walk around the Fort. It is a different area than we are used to seeing and it is a part of Gateway so we felt that we should take this opportunity and walk around. We were given a small tour of the Coast Guard base and housing area by two girls from the visitor center. We also assisted them with putting up flyers for their Jr. Ranger program that they are having in July. After that we tried to find our way to the Floyd Bennett Field, but unfortunately, we were not able to find the correct entrance into the field. Later that day, we helped set up for our summer annual Beach Concert at the Hook. Every Wednesdays, we have concerts on the beach; different bands come out, we have a stage and dance floor set up for everyone to come out and enjoy themselves.

Wednesday we were supposed to work the concert; however, due to the rain the concert was cancelled. So we went down to the lot and helped take down all the cones that we had set up the night before, so that the parking lot was no longer blocked off. We also took that time to get ourselves prepared for Leadership Camp next week.

Thursday, we were asked to return back to Staten Island to see the step by step process of dealing with applications that are sent into the office. Unfortunately for us, they did not have all that they wanted to show so we worked on some other things for them. In a way we actually got a hands-on view of the process. We were asked to go through the applications and make sure all the paperwork was signed. If an applicant did not have all the signatures we had to move them to a separate pile and if they were all filled out correctly we moved them to another pile.

 

Fallon looking through applications

I know that we were able to help them out by doing this, because they were able to get more work done that they needed to do with our help. In return we got to see what it felt like to work in Human Resources. On Friday, we stayed at Sandy Hook and worked with Grace; she works out of Staten Island but comes to Sandy Hook twice a week to do some work here. We helped her find case files that needed to be pulled and ready to go to court. We also filed new case incidents so that they would be ready if anyone needed to locate them. She taught us how to input the information onto the computer so that when we went into the cabinets we would be able to find them easily.

Filing cabinets that holds all of the criminal cases

Working with administration was very eye opening for me because there's more to administration than what many believe there is. As we mentioned before, maintenance is what keeps the park up and running and administration is what keeps the people up and running within the park. Without them, we would not be able to have all the people here to keep the environment of Sandy Hook safe and comfortable for our visitors and coworkers. Administration is a major part in how to deal with certain issues when things are trying to get done. We learned that when there is a situation where something may conflict with one policy but it falls under another policy and it needs be done, HR is there to help make the best decision on how to handle it with the best interest of the park. Most people are afraid to speak to administration because they feel that they be bothering them, however, the people at administration are here to help, answer questions and solve problems. So don't be afraid. =)

With Love,

Fallon and Ryan

P.S. Due to technical difficulities I had to post the blog this morning instead of last night.