Area volunteer awarded for transcription work

Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (S&RR) volunteer Avery Ohliger has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the National Park Service’s Region 1 Excellence in Volunteer Service Impact Award for the Youth & Young Adult Category.

This was a competitive year for nominations, which speaks even more strongly to Ohliger’s impact to Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River’s volunteer program. The award recognizes a single individual 30 and under (non-veteran) and 35 and under (for veterans) who have shown an impressive level of commitment, has had a significant positive effect, or has made a meaningful impact for their park/program.

Ohliger’s dedication to preserving Upper Delaware S&RR’s history by digitizing oral history files, transcribing and indexing firsthand accounts of the area’s history, exemplifies how volunteerism connects individuals to their local national park site, while also helping to advance the National Park Service mission.

The transcription of oral history interviews is a time-consuming, detail oriented, and tedious process that requires careful listening, where one minute of audio takes 10 of transcribing. Ohliger used audio recording software to recover, mix and enhance the audio quality and clarity of 18+ hour long oral history interviews. By integrating AI, he was able to streamline the transcription process to complete 11 oral histories in eight weeks. He also developed a PowerPoint presentation and instructional video for the orientation training of remote volunteers.

Ohliger is completing his second summer internship through the Wayne County Workforce Alliance as the Cultural Resource Division Assistant at Upper Delaware S&RR. Later this month, he will begin his sophomore year at Tufts University where he is double majoring in U.S. History and in Political Science.