My Valley Forge Story: Magdalena Mastro

Ranger Magdalena keeps the visitors laughing.

NPS/ Magdalena Mastro

My name is Magdalena, and I am one of the newest park rangers here at Valley Forge. The first time I came to Valley Forge was when I was 10 years old. We had been talking about the American Revolution in our 5^th grade social studies class,

and I was introduced to the Dear America series, specifically "Winter of the Red Snow", a made-for-television-movie based on a book of the same name. I remember being intrigued—in more ways than one—about Valley Forge and asked my mom to take me there on our way to Philadelphia. I visited with my mom, my aunt, cousins and sister in the summer of 2012. I remember that it was so hot that we rode the transit bus through the park because we were making the grown-ups miserable with our constant complaining. I also remember walking past a park ranger on our way to Muhlenberg and saying something along the lines of, "I don't want to listen to her. She's boring." I don't know who she was, but I hope she knows that she's not boring despite what a 10-year-old might say. My mom had brought her camera with us, and I told my sister and my cousins to stand in the enlisted soldier's hut (the hut with the bunk beds) because "it's haunted. People died in there."

It was one of the first places I showed my now-husband when we first visited the park.

Summer 2021 internship at Gettysburg National Military Park.

NPS/Magdalena Mastro

I spent the latter half of my college career preparing to become a seasonal park ranger in the National Park Service (NPS). As a seasonal in the NPS, you're only contracted for 6 months at a time and it's the first step to getting your foot in the door before you become a permanent ranger.

I spent the summer of 2021 as an intern at Gettysburg National Military Park as a Visual Information Specialist (VIS). As a VIS, I worked primarily behind the scenes with social media, yet I knew early on in my internship that I prefer engaging with the public in person rather than starring at a computer all day.

The following summer, I interned at the Fort Pitt Museum (the site of Point State Park) in Downtown Pittsburgh and was introduced to living history.

After graduating from Geneva College in May 2023 with a bachelor's in History and a double minor in writing and political science, I moved from Pittsburgh to Los Alamos, New Mexico to begin my first season in the NPS at Bandelier National Monument. In 2024, I began my second season at Gulf Islands National Seashore in Ocean Springs, Mississippi after taking the winter off.

Handing out Junior Ranger badges is an important part of the job!

NPS/Magdalenda Mastro

During my season at Gulf Islands, a position for a permanent ranger opened up at Valley Forge. I submitted my application, thinking I didn't qualify and purely for a chuckle.

I accepted the position on August 28th, 2024 and texted my husband, "Hey guess what? We're moving again."

Toward the end of October, we packed up all of our things and started the 15-hour journey back to Pennsylvania. After settling into our new apartment, and I started working, we added to our little family by welcoming an ex-street cat and naming him Mr. Kitty Jr., named after a colleague of mine from Bandelier, who had a cat named Mr. Kitty but sadly passed shortly after our time at Bandelier together.

Very quickly, our little family turned into a massive family here at Valley Forge, with everyone welcoming me and my husband with open arms. As I learn more about the park, the more I become connected to a beautiful place like Valley Forge and the more I can help families or just one person create positive, beautiful, happy memories.

After all, I always say to visitors, that there a fee to get into Valley Forge: all it takes is one smile and one happy memory. "

Tags: valley forge national historical park, my valley forge story, vf50, 50 years of valley forge