Staff Highlight: Chantelle Ruidant-Hansen

Chantelle Ruidant-Hansen at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

NPS Photo

Hola! As we reflect this year on #YourParkStory and our connections to these special places, meet Chantelle Ruidant-Hansen and read her story and how it’s #MiParqueMiHistoria.

“I have learned so much about the history and natural resources of the San Antonio area, but maybe more importantly, I have learned a lot about myself and about our shared history that makes us who we are today,” says Chantelle, “this is Mi Parque, Mi Historia.”

Chantelle, Tania and Cristobal all served at interns through the Latino Heritage Internship Program.

NPS Photo.

What started off as an impulse summer internship during my graduate studies in cultural anthropology, turned into a fulfilling career. I began this journey through the Latino Heritage Internship Program at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. At that time, I didn’t even really understand what the National Park Service was. After that summer working in community outreach and education under the inspiring park ranger and mentor Anna Martinez-Amos, I knew that it was something I was really interested in and could see myself doing but I didn’t know how. I returned only a few months later to begin a long-term fellowship position through the Hispanic Access Foundation. Throughout the fellowship, I continued learning about the park and what it meant to be an interpretive park ranger. I loved that I could use my interest in anthropology, food culture, and nature all in one place. In 2019 I accepted a permanent position as Bilingual Park Guide at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and I am now the Visual Information Specialist, and a Public Information Officer for the park. 

As a Latina woman, with some of my own ancestral roots connecting to the larger park story, I felt a deeper calling to share what makes the park so important. San Antonio, Texas is also the largest majority, Hispanic city in United States, and it is important that the population in the city sees themselves in the work that the National Park Service does to protect and preserve our parks. Being bilingual, and speaking Spanish is also a big piece of my work. I use it almost daily in the visitor center or online so that our content is not only accessible but inclusive to our community.  

Using the Spanish language is especially important in San Antonio Missions, since we tell the Spanish colonial story and how this history forever changed the local Indigenous population. The Spanish colonial mission history is the reason that many people in this region of the country speaks Spanish today. I enjoy sharing the connections between our lives today with how it was formed by our historical past. What language we speak, what we wear, how we think, and what we eat is shaped by our past, and I love helping others think about those connections. Making these connections often gets people to think about their deeper family stories.

Some of my favorite work with San Antonio Missions is helping people connect with the park and to share their stories. Working with the mission descendant community and helping lift those voices is especially rewarding. I hope to encourage more people to reflect on their connections to history and to our national parks.