My Apprenticeship at a UNESCO World
Beat
Heritage Site
College One of the primary life experiences
Our experience at this Latino heritage site involved
recommended to me as a
walking in the footsteps of the Indigenous and
freshman in college was doing
Spanish people that built the acequias. We shadowed
an internship. Gaining work experience in
park rangers and learned about the archeology,
our chosen career field is supposed to
architecture, and natural habitat we were helping to
help our resumes stand out and boost our
preserve. The conservation corps trained us on
employability. That’s why during my senior year, I
construction, landscaping, park routes and systems,
chose to apply for an apprenticeship with the National
power tools and maintenance.
Park Service.
My most memorable moment was our Bar-B-Q
I applied and was accepted to a 24-week
farewell celebration. We celebrated every one of the
internship at the San Antonio Missions National
team members with a special meal and had a giant
Historical Park in San Antonio, TX. I was one of three
farewell group Bar-B-Q with all park and conservation
university students—all Latinas—chosen for the
crew members. The highlight of the celebration was
cultural landscape apprenticeship program, a
having our crew member statistics of all the work we
collaboration between the National Park Foundation,
did during our apprenticeship shared in front of
National Park Service, Mission Heritage Partners, and
everyone and being told that our work set a great
American YouthWorks' Texas Conservation Corps, and
precedent for the next crew. We have set the bar high
funded by the National Park Foundation’s Latino
because of our will power and work ethic. It was a
Heritage Fund program.
bittersweet ending to a wondrous experience working
The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
with the park and landscaping maintenance crew
is a historic Latino heritage site comprised of five
members. I miss the crew members and the natural
Spanish missions dating back to 1731. The mission
beauty of the missions.
system has remained in continuous operation over
My 24 weeks at the heritage site helped me gain
the last 290 years thanks in large part to the
new trade skills and learn about career opportunities in
complex acequia system that sustained the
the federal government. Most importantly, I gained a
surrounding communities.
new sense of professionalism and a clearer view of
what it meant to be in the professional world.
So, I would advise everyone to take the
opportunity to do an internship with national parks.
Even if it is not necessarily in the exact industry that
44 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle Vol. 27, No. 5, 2021 you wish to work in, it is a lifetime experience
with much to gain from it on both a professional and
personal level. LS
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article? Email us at info@latinastyle.com
By Yukary Gomez
Senior, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
Yukary Gomez was a 2020-2021
cultural landscape apprentice at
San Antonio Missions National
Historical Park in Texas.
Mission San Jose��, 2013,
after facade preservation.
Photo courtesy of
National Park Service.
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