Raquel in the classroom
Raquel Henriquez has been San Mateo County Parks’ Bilingual Community Engagement Intern for the last year. In this role, Raquel works with the communities around Flood and Friendship County Parks to improve the interpretive elements of the parks and provide programming and outreach opportunities. Raquel has been the primary point of contact for Friendship Park’s community gardeners, facilitating regular on-site educational opportunities.
Raquel recently sat down with the Parks Foundation for a Q&A as she gets ready to move on to her next big thing after this internship opportunity wraps up.
What has been your favorite part of the job?
Raquel: “Working with the community, putting on events and tabling. I love interacting with different people who use the parks. It’s rewarding to help them out with information and answer their questions. This job has strengthened my public speaking skills. It is fulfilling for me to bridge the gap between people not knowing about our county parks to them then wanting to visit and return to the parks.”
Tabling at Fall Fest
What do you want people to know about Friendship Park?
Raquel: “The people who regularly use Friendship Park, they value it very much. The park gives them something fun to do – to grow food – and it gives them a sense of ownership over the park. They really care about the park. It is an important feature in the North Fair Oaks community.”
What has been your biggest lesson from this role?
Raquel: “Representation matters. I sort of knew this before but being in this position, wearing the uniform and the hat and seeing little kids’ faces or my little brother’s face light up is meaningful. You see it in their eyes – it wows them that someone who looks like them can be in a position like this. They think, hey maybe I could do that too when I grow up. Whenever tabling in the community, I realize how impactful it is for me just to be in this role because this type of position bridges the gap between kids who look like me and professional careers. This internship is a great stepping stone.”
What advice do you have for the next intern?
Raquel: “Be open to new ideas and try to think outside the box for park activities. When I came into this role, we already had the salsa recipe contest and Day of the Dead and I wanted to add new events. I came up with our spring celebration, art events and a scavenger hunt. I am most proud of introducing the art class collaborations with The Riekes Center. Not only is this a fun activity for all ages but participants got to learn about different parks through these classes. I would share fun things to do and the different animal species found in the parks. North Fair Oaks residents tend to stay very local and don’t explore further afield, so I enjoy sharing about local parks so they feel inspired to visit.”
What are your next steps?
Raquel: “Since I tabled at a lot of events, I got to network with folks from different organizations. As a result of these connections, I’ve decided I really want to go into environmental health. I will go back to school for lab credits and take extra classes to become certified as a registered Environmental Health Specialist.”
We wish Raquel the best of luck in her next endeavor! Interviews are being held to hire the next Bilingual Community Engagement Intern.
Connecting with the community