Hi, My name is Alexander Esparolini Hernández. I am a Latino Heritage Internship Program intern with the National Park Service's Historic American Building Landscape Survey Program (HALS) Born and raised at the island of enchantment, Puerto Rico. I'm a rising Senior Architecture Student/College Tennis Player...
I don’t know how it’s already my third week in Philadelphia—part of me feels like I’ve been here way longer, and part of me feels like I’ve just arrived. Either way, work is in full swing and I’m starting to feel settled in the office....
This post will be in two parts. First an update. My internship is going well. Though I still do not have my ID, I still get to help out with different projects and attend a lot of meetings. My main project is still helping out...
Hello all, this is my first blog post as an LHIP Intern. I have just completed my first week of work as a HABS intern. I am working in Washington DC at the HABS office, but currently I am in San Francisco collecting data. This...
This week was filled with training, for seasonal and permanent employees in addition to us lowly interns. Because of that, the office remained mostly empty for the better part of the week. While training is not always glamorous or exciting, this week was useful in that seasonal...
My first busy week in the Smokies was packed full of introductions, reading, and general orientation to the park. I was greeted by a lot of friendly faces and presented with a few options for how I should spend my time here in the Smokies...
The week finally arrived when all my training finally went into play. The 11 high school YCC interns sprang into action and went about their various scheduled shifts at different places at the park such as Grand Canyon Visitor Center, Verkamps Visiter Center, Horse Patrol,...
First programs down, many more to go. The interpretive interns have officially started developing and presenting their educational programs to visitors. I’ll be done with my first try at all my topics by Sunday when I complete the guided hike to a place called Inspiration...
Popular culture often depicts the Southwest of the United States as barren wastelands which are incapable of producing any sort of life, yet in my four shorts days, I have captured nothing less than a fountain of diversity in the desert of Southern Arizona. Coronado...
Two weeks so far at SF Maritime and I’m still adjusting to it all. Not knowing too much about maritime history or having done much seafaring myself, has made absorbing it a bit overwhelming. But that’s in part why I am here, so I am...
Diversifying the audience to which the National Park Service caters has been a prevalent challenge. Raising awareness of these parks and their services to underrepresented groups is an ongoing conversation with many factors to consider. Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK), a non-profit organization focused on...
This week, training has consumed most of my time at work but I’d much rather discuss a cosmic coincidence I observed since my time here. I have been reminiscing about my younger self through the lens of a young girl we will call Ema....
This week has been devoted to interpretation training for the entire FIIS division for the new interns and staff, as well as the seasoned rangers and officers. We started off the week by gaining some new interns and a new seasonal ranger! The interns come...
These were the best two weeks of my life as I got to meet my new baby son John Carlos, born on an early Sunday morning in a downtown hospital just a few blocks away from the Alamo (no one will ever be able to...
Back at it again with the third blog post of the summer! If you haven’t already done so, please read up here and here on President Obama’s visit to Yosemite National Park, in which he expresses the importance of conservation and preservation as related to...
I’m on my 4th week of my internship at the C&O Canal at Great Falls and so far it has been great. All the rangers and seasonals here at the park have been more than welcoming (I even feel like a ranger myself)....
Walking down the aisle of the Moran Theater with a smile so wide it began to hurt, my eyes scoped the room, eventually locking frame where my supervisor and coworkers were. The moment I saw them at my high school graduation, I knew we would...
To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone. - Ralph Waldo Emerson This week, I got to thinking about all the outdoor activities I've had the opportunity to...
"The national park is the best idea America ever had."- James Bryce The past two weeks have consisted of experiences I will remember for quite a long time. On Monday June 13th, I was given the opportunity to accompany NPS representatives that...
Perhaps because of its isolation within the national and state context, the Guadalupe Mountains National Park hasn’t relished the same fame that other national parks hold. In 2015, this park was ranked 48 in the list of the 58 most visited national parks,...