Alumna extols virtue of the U.S. national parks

A Rider alumna appeared at this year's Philadelphia Flower Show to help raise awareness of the importance of America's national parks.  Each year, the Philadelphia Flower Show focuses on a theme. This year's theme of the flower show was "Explore America," in recognition of 100 years of National Park Service.  Appearing with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, park ranger Renee Albertoli '87 attended as a special guest and an authority on the subject. She was interviewed for Turf's Up with Rider's 107.7 the Bronc Radio station. Albertoli said that this particular segment was her favorite part of the event because people get to share their memories about visiting national parks. Having had graduated from Rider in 1987 with a degree in American studies, Albertoli is now an interpretive specialist for Independence Heritage National Park in Philadelphia, which showcases many of the sites associated with the American Revolution, including the place where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were adopted, Independence Hall. Her position includes a wide range of activities, making the job different every day, but her central task is to help visitors understand the meaning of the park's various resources.  In addition to giving tours and maintaining the park's website, Albertoli has also worked to create two mobile apps for the park. The NPS Independence app includes all the information visitors need to enjoy one of the country's richest historic districts. It also includes a postcard feature that allows visitors to take a picture in the park and then frame it like a postcard, with a greeting from Independence Heritage National Park. The Junior Park Ranger app has five interactive features for the park's younger guests, including a feature the simulates ringing the Liberty Bell. When all five steps are successfully completed, kids can print out a certificate and pick up a badge from the park's front desk, In honor of her dedication to the park community, Albertoli received the National Park Service’s Freeman Tilden Award for interpretive excellence in 2012. The award was given in recognition of her contributions through Project Write, a writing enrichment program for high school students. This program, different from anything that Independence Heritage National Park has done before, gives students the opportunity to find what inspires them through the national park sites. "Awards are nice, but what's really great is working with the kids,"  Albertoli says. Participants of the program spend two weeks in the park, writing about topics that are meaningful to them and make them their own. Throughout the show, Albertoli encouraged every person to "find their park, even if it's an urban park, like here in Philadelphia."