Central Park: People: Teen Tour Guides

By Jen Brown

DEVAINE HICKS WAS looking to fit in, and to the 15-year-old from Brooklyn, joining a gang seemed like the best way. “I was starting to get caught up inside a bad situation,” he said. “I was a conversation away from joining the Bloods.”

But when Hicks learned about the Central Park Conservancy Youth Leadership Program, he decided to follow a different path. Now twice a week he takes the A train from Brooklyn to the Upper West Side, and leads visitors through Central Park rather than being led himself into a world of crime and drugs.

“Being inside of Central Park is like getting inside of a better part of the city,” said Hicks, who said he wants to be a lawyer. “My favorite part [of leading tours] is seeing smiles on people’s faces when they learn about the park.”

Hicks is part of the Teen Docents, one of three groups that make up Central Park’s Youth Leadership Program. The docent group designs and leads tours of the park. Another group called ROOTS, for Restoration of the Outdoors Organized by Teen Students, works on restoration projects, and the media outreach group, the “teen voice” of the park, designs press material aimed at other teens.

“Being inside of Central Park is like getting
inside a better part of
the city.”
—Devaine Hicks,
tour guide

All three groups come to the park together twice a week in the fall and then divide into their specialties in the spring. Teens in the program are eligible for paid summer internships with the conservancy and work in public relations, recreation programs such as Camp Central Park, sandbox programs and garden and general grounds maintenance.

“We started the program to introduce kids to different careers in the park,” said Terri Carta, manager of community partnerships and programs for the conservancy.

The teens, in turn, introduce the public to new areas of the park, such as the Hallet Nature Sanctuary, which has been closed to the public since 1934 to allow natural vegetation to grow and provide a habitat for wildlife. The only way to access it is through a teen tour.

Tour patrons “can really relate to younger people,” said Edith Slade who works with the Teen Docents. “There was a group down from Connecticut and they were speaking their language, which is a secret language to me.”

The Teen Docents work closely with ROOTS members, who maintain the Hallett Nature Sanctuary and clear strangling wisteria from the area. ROOTS members also build trails for the Teen Docent tours, using materials that grow naturally in local wooded areas.

The teen leadership program has designed a Web site for teens in recent years and produced a video called “My Central Park.” This year the media group is producing a video that tells park visitors why it is harmful to feed the animals.

The subject may sound dry, but the teens find ways to put their signature on the piece. Marc Hernandez, the group’s “comedian,” started an “Ask Marc” segment where he challenges the experts in the video with funny questions such as, “Can pigeons swim?” (According to the wildlife expert, they can’t).

“Hopefully some of the students will aspire to get into media,” said Maxine Stadnik, one of the media group’s instructors. “A lot of kids don’t spend a lot of time reading, because reading and writing might not be a great skill. But they still have a voice and emotions and can express themselves in a medium they’re familiar with.”


		SLIDE SHOW: Watch teen docents leading tours of the park.

		SLIDE SHOW: Watch ROOTS in action.

	MAP:	Hallett Nature Sanctuary

MAP: Elva Ramirez

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For the kids

Quick facts

The Hallett Nature Sanctuary Tour and Dairy Berry Fields Tour meet one Saturday a month at 11 a.m.

The Dairy Berry Fields Tour meets at the Dairy Visitor Center and Gift Shop, mid-Park at 65th Street. For more information, call (212) 794-6564.

Because space is limited on the open tours, they ask that groups (10 or more people) arrange a special group tour by calling (212) 360-1471 or e-mailing tcarta[at]centralparknyc.org. Group tours are also free and are available year-round.

Media group’s teen page

Most annoying questions asked on the teen tours:

Is that Webster from the dictionary?
Referring to the statue of Daniel Webster.
Are there strawberries in Strawberry Fields?
No, there aren’t.
Where are the cherries on Cherry Hill?
There aren’t any.
Is that waterfall real?
No. Like many things in
the park, the waterfall in
the Hallett Nature Sanctuary is man-made.

Source: Devaine Hicks