26 Jul Kristian Lloyd Enbysk – Voices Made For Radio!

Hey y’all! Its my last week at Homestead..it’s kind of bittersweet. I have developed so many connections with this park, the staff, and the community that I will remember always, but I’m excited to go back and share my experience further with friends and family. Also, I am preparing for our virtual career workshop next week! I can continue to express my gratitude, but I still have a week! So I’ll dive into what I have been up to these past couple of weeks.

Last week, the National Park Service celebrated their annual Latino Conservation Week! It was created in 2014 to embrace the importance of the Latinx community’s involvement in preserving our valuable cultural and natural resources. One way Homestead participated in the festivities was by highlighting the three Latinx on staff. I’ll highlight our Latinx staff too! Bilingual Interpretive Educational Ranger Lili Valderrama is a Peruvian-American. By working with welcoming students to the park, Lili takes them to many locations around the park to help better understand the Homestead Act, its effects on a variety of aspects, and to let them have fun! Jorge Vargas-Barriga is a Mexican-American first generation college graduate who has been an intern with Mosaics in Science program. He has been working with the natural resources team on the annual mussel survey to help increase and protect their numbers in the nearby watersheds. Then there was me, but you already know me from my previous blogs!

One exciting event that happened last week was that Jorge and I had the chance to be interviewed by KWBE Radio News Channel Nebraska. The opportunity sort of came out the blue when Mark Engler, park superintendent, came up to me and ask if I’d be interested. This would be my first live radio interview, so of course I was a little skeptical of the idea, but realized it was a great way to step out my comfort zone and promote LHIP and my projects. We did just that! It was an insightful half-hour conversation to enlighten the people of Southeast Nebraska on what was happening at Homestead. It was an experience I will not soon forget. I had fun, but also expressed the importance of the work that is being done to save and record the stories of homesteading and this community. Below you can hear a segment of our interview! Take a listen…

Also this past week, we said thank you and goodbye to our Youth Conservation Corps interns, Abigail and Elliott. They helped out the cultural resources team with organizing some of the photo archives and assisted with the park’s Black Homesteader Project by writing up summaries of many case files of black homesteaders. They were a great addition to the team! As I said, I have one more week and I’ll make this one count! Until next time, thanks for reading.