One final project.

One aspect of my internship is to engage an undeserved community by providing a service.  I knew I wanted to do something with the prison system and then I thought back to the NPS Academy in Grand Tetons.  We talked about making the park service more relevant to more Americans.   Park visitors tend to be older and less racially diverse than the country as a whole.  The park service's own staff reflects a lack of diversity and this is a challenge because of the agencies mission to preserve and protect the natural and historical pieces of the country.  For a long time, the park service has also seen itself as interpreters and keepers of the nations history.

So I knew I wanted to do something that would expose people who hadn't had much exposure to the park service and I started asking around and met with the administrator of the Garland County Juvenile Detention center.  I spoke to her and had discussions with a few groups of kids in jail and found out some pretty heart breaking things.

Readmission rates to the jail are high, kids get out of prison and a significant amount get in trouble again and come back.  Many of these kids are growing up in poverty, they don't always have food on the table and violent crime is a constant where they live.

So I got together some park staff and after a little workshop, we got together and had an event at the detention center.  It was one part storytelling, one part sharing and getting to know each other.  We spent a lot of time just talking to each other.  Then each of the park staffers told their life story.  One woman told us about being beaten by her husband and another talked about her struggle with drug abuse.  One of the park staffers had been in that very same detention center when he was growing up.

There were a few main things I wanted to communicate to everyone

1. We all face incredible challenges in our lives
2. How we face them is what defines us
3. The park service exists to serve the american people, in other words, that we cared about those kids

At the end we closed with an activity meant to bring us together.  We had a ball of yarn that we tossed around and when we got it we talked about something that inspired us today.  It's probably too soon to say if we made a difference in their lives but I'm optimistic that we started a conversation that will continue long after I leave.


Also quick shoutout to Leah V, Ashley P, and Rhonda H who helped put the whole thing together! You guys made this event possible!