Teen Read Week is October 14-20

LRC helpers did a fantastic job creating our first display case,
"Fall for a good Book" 

I've been working hard and getting acclimated to my new position. Teaching is truly a rewarding occupation. Having a sense that your efforts can actually help someone, is priceless. And as the school librarian I get to be a part of so much...helping students find the resources they need, the delight on their faces when their requested book comes in, the peace they show when they enter into the quiet sanctuary like setting of the LRC, (depends which period), the focus they display when working at the computer-typing, researching,or completing their math problems. I'm proud of the LRC helpers I have too. They've created displays and promoted programs and the opening weeks of the school library would not have been possible without their day-to-day contributions.

The school website addition is my first virtual trek outside the LRC. YALSA's Teen Read Week inspired me; Teen Read Week is October 14-20

Face Your Fears

One of my most significant milestones during the TRT experience so far, has been my experience with the Beneath the Fishing Pole program.

When I was a girl, my grandmother would always ask if I wanted to go fishing and I always declined. When I reflect on why, I can recall not wanting to touch any worms, put bugs on a hook, or touch a live or dead fish or clean fish or eat fish! Nothing, and I mean nothing about fishing sounded fun or enjoyable at that time.

Fast forward three decades… and here I am in a situation to undue all of those past thoughts by helping young children overcome the very thing I’d avoided when I was their age! Yes I faced my fears and said that out loud as I hooked my first cut up worm onto the hook. The kids and the adults in the group marveled. I just convinced myself that if my family and I were starving and our survival depended on me fishing- I would do it, period. Once I was past that initial obstacle, I helped several children get the worm parts that Ranger Jack had cut, onto the hooks. Once those were gone I had to cross another bridge and conserve the worms we had and needed by cutting the whole worms into three parts. I watched Ranger Jack cut the worms with the scissors and I got down to business myself. I could not contain my excitement and surprise when the worm parts continued to wiggle around even after I’d cut them. Who knew…not me… but now I do.

I learned so much about the anatomy of a fish, how to cast, how to hook, how to line up poles, transport poles- the joy of learning has always been in me and I am so thankful to our Creator for letting me share that part of myself with others and for allowing me to be a part of such a wonderful experience with others.

I must be prepared. To help me prepare for my first Ledges Ramble program, I took my sons and two of my nephews on the hike with me and had them do the scavenger hunt. I matched an older with a younger and emphasized to them that they didn't need to find everything and that the most important thing was to enjoy the hike and the park.

They were so wonderful to watch and so helpful. I was so thankful for the time I spent with them and felt a connection and love for them and the outdoors. Wow, I sound so sappy but it's so true. I can't wait to do this again.

On Top! Ledges Ramble...

Despite all of the challenges with being a TRT, there are so many worthwhile moments. When I got to lead my first Ledges Ramble program, I described the “tight space” we could go into near Ice Box cave. A couple of the children voiced their concern and had decided they would go around rather than slide and slink through the tight space.  After some thought one of the little girls said, “Well, face your fears,”  and had made up her mind that she was going to slide and slink. I was truly inspired. I had just said those same words a week before. I high-fived her and before you know it, it became our group mantra- “face your fears!” We were all high-fiving and when it came time to go into the tight space, we all went through, they squealed with delight and wanted to go through again. Amazing.

That’s Special

Over the past several weeks I’ve gotten to know the map of CVNP pretty well, as well as the lay of the land.  There are so many special places in the Park and this blog is dedicated to some of my personal hotspots…

Tinker’s Creek Gorge is on a very steep hill. On the way up there was a deer waiting to cross the road and on the way down, two determined older and very fit bikers were pushing up the hill. Driving through the Bedford Reservation Metro park to get to the Gorge was a pleasure. Following the creek, and imagining kids frolicking in the water sprinklers and jumping around on the playground was delightful.  The Terra Vista Natural Study Area was a stop on the way back. It was a little to “natural” for my taste,    (It makes me truly appreciate the work that the National Park workers and Conservancy volunteers do to keep the trails looking and working their best).

Exploration days, where I can get outdoors, see, experience, and appreciate different locations in throughout the Park, are one of the best parts about this position. On one such day I had the treat to visit the Blue Heron nesting area off Bath Rd. The Heronry with or without binoculars is a special location. You can literally see dozens of nests and will undoubtedly see one or a few herons flying to and from. I’ve heard that the Herons have to keep their nesting area away from the Eagles or else the Eagles will feed the heron eggs to their eaglets! I don’t know how true it is but I’m relieved that the Eagle’s Nest is further north.

So far, one of my favorite places to visit is the Beaver Marsh. This place is full of history and you never know what you might see there. One time visiting with the other TRT’s we focused on turtles and frogs. We saw several of both. We could see the work of the Beaver’s but during the daylight hours, not the beavers themselves. A deer passing through, wood ducks and ducklings, different species of birds, Herons too, damsel flies and dragon flies and so much more!

There's a variety of wildlife that calls the Beaver Marsh home, not bad for a former junkyard!

The Brecksville station part of the Towpath where the Eagle’s nest was great the second time around, because the adolescent was actually there! A young eagle was alone, hovering over the nest, as if his parents told him not to leave or he could have been working up the courage to soar!?!

Other hotspots:

• Tinker’s Creek Gorge the Overlook, even though there is no lower level view.
• Canal Visitor Center with the realistic and semi-interactive exhibits on Canal locks, life, early Native-American history is worth the trip north and there are plans to update this center and make even more interactive!
• Rockside station has the eco-friendly pavement and parking lot.
• Hunt Farm Visitor Center has an adorable play area for small children and personifies creativity.
• Hines Hill Center is home to the Conservancy. The “Barn” and the “Chicken Coup” that shares the campus,  can be rented out and is a picturesque place for a wedding ceremony.

ART

As a TRT, part of my mission is to give people a reason to care- connect visitors intellectually and emotionally to tangible places and things as well as to intangible themes that make the National Park Service, (NPS), purposeful. One of the major ways to accomplish this is through personal services and media services. That’s why I love this blog. I can undertake the personal and media services at the same time. As the saying goes, “we conserve what we love and understand.” Part of my interpretation skills will be to present as many perspectives as I can. Visitors need to feel and see the Park as a valuable resource.

Applying the Interpretive Equation

KR + KA x AT = IO

So, after the cool workshop on Geocaching at the Leopold Conference, I’m excited about seeing how as an LST- Librarian Servicing Teens, I could use the Park, and the popular Hunger Games book series, “districts” of training and skills to engage more students. Tangible and Intangibles. The Cuyahoga River, Crooked River, Place of the Jawbone, Place of the Wing, can surely earn a spot in the plans.

The Sequoia tree and bison represented vegetation and wildlife, the mountains and water represented scenic and recreational values, and the arrowhead represented historical and archeological values.

NPS arrowhead patch

The 3 S's

"Do you know what the three "S's" are?"  Well, I do and this is part of the intro for all of the Junior Ranger Junior programs, (JRJ). For the older Junior Rangers, (JR's) the same ideas are emphasized but not on the elementary level of, "Who can tell me what the three S's are?" They are- Special, Shared, and Safe. These are three words that describe the CVNP and the NPS in general. With 397 sites, the NPS is pretty diverse. Some of the national "parks" are actually monuments or forests or battlefields, or even seashores! And CVNP is especially exceptional because it is the only national park in Ohio and happens to be wedged between two major metropolitan areas- Akron to the south and Cleveland to the North.

I'm proud to put on the "green and grey," when I think about the noble cause behind the national park system mission. Preserving the natural landscape of the nations for future generations and honoring those historic and cultural sites that define this nation and remind of milestones that shape our national heritage. Goosebumps.

The first JR program I was fortunate to observe was Ledges Ramble. Ranger Phil is awesome and he really set the bar. How he spoke to the children and parents, guided us on the hike, making every attempt to make sure the TRT's "got it." To be an established worker-employee- team member who remembers what it was like to be the new kid on the block, - in any field, anywhere and be able to welcome and share with the "newbies" in a respectful and kind way-- is special.

Other programs followed, A Very Busy Forest, Ultimate Junior Ranger Challenge, After the Chores and Meet the Unhuggables. A funny thing happened when I tried to go the extra mile and got the keys to the Octagon maintenance room area. I was attempting to help out by making sure we had water on-site so we could fill up the large water jugs for one of the exploratory stations for A Very Busy Forest. I unlocked the room and spotted the large water basin right away but also heard this, "bup, bup, bup.." in the background. I wondered what it was. I think my exact words were, "What's that noise? Hey, Jack you hear that?" Promptly followed by a glaring alarm sound that was deafening. Turns out that Maintenance didn't expect us to come set-up so early and hadn't got their yet to disable the alarm! In the meantime, TRT Jack had called Ranger Pam for codes to disable the alarm but once we had the codes we couldn't find the alarm panel. It just so happens that it was through the basement door that required a key we did not have. Drama, trauma, embarrassing. I learned some lessons in there somewhere. Hopefully I handled myself gracefully enough because inside I felt raddled. I do know how to check to see if the alarm is "armed" and ready or not...now! 

Helping fellow TRT's with the A Very Busy Forest day camp program.

Anyway, the other TRT's are great though. Each of them had me tag along for at least one of the programs they led while I observed and helped out when I could. I learned so much from them, so might say it was like, the blind leading the blind but I appreciated the modeling that they did and to be able to collaborate and see experienced teachers take a subject that is fairly new to them and be able to "interpret" in such an effective way was inspiring to me.  Each one of them has that special something that makes them shine. My hope is that I will too!

Cruisin'

TRT Shannon and I took a car ride through the CVNP and along the Ohio & Erie Canal. We were out from 9-12:30pm and logged over 60 miles- Oh my!  We took a quick drive up Riverview Rd. and stopped off at Rockside station, got out walked around, checked out the environmentally friendly parking lot. Identified key signs and the bulletin board info. We we were driving in to the secluded-like lot, we saw what appeared to be a family of five starting their bike ride. We overheard the mother say to the two children, in that motherly voice, " Ohh-kay, we're getting ready to go up a hill." Precious.

We even looped around by the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation area. TRT Shannon pointed out the cool bridgesleading to the next section of the Cleveland Metroparks- the "Emerald Necklace" around Lake Erie. We made our way south, stopping off at the Canal Visitors center that hadn't opened yet but we peeked at the canal spot anyway. And who should we see as we strolled back to the adventuous Jeep... the cute family from the Rockside Rd. station and boy, did it look like the kids were hitting their stride. Adorable.

Station St. Bridge

"Wood" bricks of the Station St. Bridge

We continued down Canal Rd. after getting around detour and jumped out at the Frazee House, which happened to be under construction. We then made our way to the Brecksville Reservation the side with the "green dotted" metropark line and crossed Riverview Rd. to the national park side. We scanned the Brecksville station lot and boarding area, listened to some background information about the area while we "cranked" the voice box, just before we set out to cross the Station Rd. Bridge. I definitely have a thing for bridges- steel, concrete, whatever. I couldn't take my eyes off the wood bricks and the awesome canal view.

Great Blue Heron on watch

Empty eagle's nest

We made our way to the towpath trail in search of the Bald Eagles Nest. There were dozens of walkers, runners, and bikers on the path. We even saw a few people fishing! I recalled some of the background on the dam and the water quality issues they were having there. On our way to the Nest area, we spotted a Great Blue Heron patrolling the path from a tree branch and not long after that we got a glimpse of the eagle's nest but no eagle, an overzealous biker wanted us to know, "THEY'RE NOT THERE, THEY'RE GONE, THEY'RE NOT THERE!!!" Oooo-kkkkay. We still enjoyed seeing the nest and coming up with theories as to when, where, if they would return.

We headed back the way we came and were surprised as a black mink crossed our path and scurred toward the canal via the bushes. Cool. We practically skip back to the Jeep, "we saw a mink, a mink crossed our path."
And as we are driving along the Towpath, we spot none other than the adorable family of five from the Rockside Station and the kids are full steam ahead, leading the way. They were obviously in the grove and did not appear to need a reminder or heads up about any hills that could be coming up! Inspiring.

River view from Station St. Bridge

We dipped in to Brandywine Falls and marvelled from the upper deck and vowed we would be back to see the lower deck view and hike the trail. With lunch on our minds, we decided to make one last stop off at the Boston Mill Visitor Center. We got out looked at some of the exhibits. Checked out the wares and made our way over to the TrailMix store. No way! I had to take a double take of the family enjoying some ice cream treat before turning around to finish their bike ride. I looked around and quickly assessed that they were just a family of three and not the family from Rockside Station. Hilarious.

Ranger Connie

This is so cool! I am a Park Ranger with the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, (CVNP). This will be my second home this summer. I am a TRT, that is, a Teacher-Ranger-Teacher. I applied and was accepted to train and work as a park ranger through the environmental education department and when school resumes in the fall I'll be able to teach and share with my building and community, what I learned and how they too can take advantage of an opportunity to learn and enjoy our national park.

Ranger Connie in her "green & grey."

So, it's been just over a week and getting more comfortable getting around "the Park."
Home base is the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Educational Center, CVEEC. At the November Lodge is where the library/computer lab is located. Cool bulletin boards are up here. Reduce Run Off, Wetlands, National Parks, and my favorite- The Life of a Water Bottle. Campers and their counselors often use the Lodge through out the summer and do culminating projects that lead to informative and colorful bulletin boards.

Environmental Education Center (EEC),  Admin. Building

One of the cool bulletin boards at November Lodge

Other cool things: The Junior Ranger Handbook designed for those under thirteen, had several activities that could be adapted to fit older kids. I spent some time looking over the activities and brainstorming how I would modify the assignments for high school age campers.

The other TRT's and I, completed an all day welcome/orientation where we meet a number of CVNP staff from a variety of departments. I was also able to complete several online courses to help prepare me for my park ranger position. I'm in the "interpretation" division of the EEC, which is basically a fancy way of saying I "teach" young visitors about the Park.  They come as part of a summer camp or as part of a pre-registered familly group.

Even with all of the background information and the history of the NPS, there are still a lot of little details for the day-to-day activities I'll be responsible for. The radio and etiquette involved in using and speaking on it... well let's just say I'm glad I have In School Suspension experience that required me to use the radio to communicate with administrators, security, law enforcement, and other staff.

Radio charge&pick-up station

We prepare to use the radio to do radio check with dispatch before program outing, any emergency during a program, and a location wrap up/return to base. Sign out the radio. Note the property #, check channels and volume, Identify the number of the person you need to communicate with. Press & hold, say their number pause say mine plus my last name. And such.