Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Basil Masood: Your Park! Your Health! Rocks! Your Park! Your Health! Zindabad! That's in Urdu!
Liang Yi Jiang: Your Park! Your Health! We welcome you. ?????
Erick Melgar: Me gusta Tu Parque! Tu Salud!
David Monroy: I am Your Park! Your Health! Yo soy Tu Parque! Tu Salud!
Ani Coaderaj: Your Park! Your Health! Me ka ndryshuar jeten per shume mire. In Albanian, that means Your Park! Your Health! has changed my life in such a positive way.
Sabirah Abdus-Sabur: Bienvenue Your Park! Your Health! .. and that's French!
Sheridan: Since 2011, Gateway National Recreation Area has hosted Your Park! Your Health!, an outreach initiative through which a team of college interns learn and apply leadership skills that makes summer in the city a time for outdoor adventure, personal growth, and healthy living.
Basil: Your Park! Your Health! is a great program because it represents the diversity of New York. We have 8 interns who are basically from 8 different countries and speak 12-13 different languages. Your Park! Your Health! or Tu Parque! Tu Salud! as we call it is different because we’re really reaching out to the population which generally does not know anything about National Parks and with the diversity of New York, we want to reach out to the minorities, the Spanish population, the Asian population, and the African-American population.
Erick: These programs help a lot of different audiences in New York City. In fitness, for example, they get to participate in our free programs, such as kayaking, hiking, biking, among other things that will let you open doors and encourage you to be more active and healthy.
Liang Yi: I think that Your Park! Your Health! is especially important in an urban environment especially New York City because of how little time we actually spend outdoors and how much time we actually spend on the computer or watching TV. So this program actually brings people out to enjoy multiple free activities.
Sabirah: Some people are kind of nervous when they think that camping is such a very deep-in-the-woods kind of setting, and this is a great leadway into doing more camping. People had a wonderful time, they loved this experience, and they’re just going to tell other people, and that’s great.
David: Your Park! Your Health! had actually improved my team building skills, as well as my leadership skills, by taking me out of my comfort zone and forcing me to take the initiative when I wanted to contribute to any planning or activities that we do. I was able to make this internship my own!
Justin Kallickal: Over any course of time you’re going to grow, and this internship just helped me grow much faster than I expected. It just started from the archery range. I really liked archery, and when I first tried it, I just couldn’t hit the target .So, when everybody tried the shortest distance, and I just went again and looked for the furthest one. I kept trying, I kept missing. After the first two or three days, I was finally able to hit it.
Vincent Wong: I was a water patrol for our kayaking program so I was in the water a lot making sure that people were safe. So, I had to learn how to, when people fall off the boat, I learned, you know, how to give them advice – how to grab onto my boat, make sure I don’t tip over, make sure they’re safe. I learned to flip the boats over to drain out all the water, and make sure the people get on the boat safely.
Ani: From the American Heart Association, I learned the importance of really spreading the message of fitness, and wellness using Life’s Simple Seven as a means, and also we learned about CPR which now if I see someone in distress I can help them out.
Erick: This internship is all about teamwork. It’s going to boost your confidence and be able to be open when talking more to the public.
Ani: I didn’t know, like, New York could be so naturey in a sense, and this has really opened my eyes. This has shown me there’s a lot more in the world out there, and maybe you just have to go looking for it. And now, I can show my friends and they can be just as surprised and overjoyed as I was.
Liang Yi: Well, the people that will apply next year I would definitely say, prepare to be out in the Sun a lot, prepare to do a lot of fitness activities. Prepare to do too much fun that you’re going to sleep like a baby in the night. Prepare to learn. Prepare to take the most out of it!