12/02/24 - 90 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/5xpcbut8
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Spotlight - DCNR ECO Camp Helps Students Chart A Career Course For The Environment
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Ask their favorite in a week of non-stop outdoors activities and you’re likely to get as many answers as the young campers gathered around you: “Fishing for the first time!” “Searching for fossils!” “White-water rafting!” “Kayaking!”
Like the campers’ enthusiasm, their “favorites” list is unending, until, that is, you ask another simple question: “And your least favorite activity?”
To a person, the 14 young men and women gathered under DCNR’s Exploring Careers Outdoors (ECO) Camp banner are likely to say the same thing: “Saying goodbye.”
Two simple words. Yet they say so much about the success of the annual ECO Camp program which for the 10th time last month brought young people together from all walks of life to sample the abundant natural bounty of our state. They come from tiny hamlets and major cities, from rolling farmlands and neighborhoods of macadam and concrete. And never are they disappointed.
“I had mixed emotions at the close of camp,” said Brandon Miller of Landisburg, Perry County (photo). “On one hand, I was ready to see my family again. However, on the other hand, I knew what I had just experienced quickly would become a distant memory.
“I think that is the reason why I still miss waking up everyday excited to see what adventure I’d be participating in that day.”
In just a few short weeks the Perry County native will be entering 11th grade at West Perry High School, but for one night the student took on the role of a “sportsmen and cabin owner,” asking questions at a mock news conference held as part of camp activities. Answering those questions about state forest issues was DCNR’s “secretary” for the evening, Breanne Havener of Mount Joy.
“Looking back at that week, in the end, ECO Camp really was about 'unplugging' yourself from the Internet and your cell phone, and having fun in nature,” said the 17-year-old Lancaster County resident. “ECO Camp always will be a dear memory that I'll keep close to my heart!”
For Brandon and Breanne, for a string of evenings in July, the Kirby Episcopal House and Chapel in Glen Summit, Luzerne County, served as a classroom without walls, taking them to new friends, new adventures in surrounding state parks and state forests, and, hopefully, careers in the environmental science fields.
Welcome to the 10th annual camp, a highly successful educational effort that has steered hundreds of young people to the woods and waters around them. Assertiveness, confidence, an unquenchable thirst for answers, these are the character traits the students’ mentors have been polishing over the course of a one-week camp stay. Throw in the ability to make friends with others from all walks of life.
Then, add in a willingness to try anything new outdoors and you have just a few basic elements of ECO Camp.
Are they working? Talk to Brandon who’s looking ahead to future study in the science field:
“The camp's number one value, I think, is encouraging teens to get involved with the outdoor recreational activities that the state has to offer. In the future I would like to become a (Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission) Waterways Conservation Officer. I would also like to attend Penn State University and major in wildlife and fisheries science.”
Meanwhile, Breanne, who will be graduating from Donegal High School in 2013, sees Carnegie Mellon University and a fine arts major in her future.
Daily exposure to state parks and forests, waterways and scenic vistas helped hone this young lady’s artistic eye, but the camp’s staff helped her focus.
“I loved every minute of it! The counselors always had something for us to do, so I was never bored,” Breanne said. “They demonstrated a sense of carefree learning, so it never felt like I was just back in the classroom. Everyone was so nice and willing to help you out, and I respect the counselors for that.
“I learned teamwork, applied it to enjoyable activities, while, all the time, having fun in the outdoors with my new friends.”
And that, says DCNR Secretary Richard J. Allan is exactly the camp’s intent.
“We know with interest comes respect and a quest for learning, and with that education comes a willingness to protect and preserve our natural world,” the secretary said. “For 10 summers now, ECO Camp has been most successful at honing an awareness of the outdoors and the variety of related careers available to young people.
“Found within this gathering of young campers is very unique pool of intelligence, spirit and commitment to environmental improvement.”
Confidence is infectious at ECO Camp. So, too, is encouragement to pursue choices. That’s what the camps have offered almost 400 young men and women since 2002 as they bring students together with the men and women who start their days as foresters, biologists, park managers, wildlife and waterways officers and geologists.
Always, camp emphasis is on drawing diverse groups of students from Pennsylvania’s largest cities and its smallest villages. Inquisitive minds and a love of nature are the catalysts that consistently meld students of different ethnic and cultural enthusiastic about exploring more of our state parks and learning more about the environment of Pennsylvania.
The ultimate goal of each camp is to introduce about 20 students to conservation and environmental careers, and encourage their pursuit. From stream sampling of fish and aquatic life, to forestry skills, daily activities are planned to get students out in the field to meet and observe environmental professionals.
It’s also an excellent place to have fun. Some campers immerse themselves in scouring rocky ledges for fossils at Beltzville State Park; others savor the adrenalin rush of Lehigh Gorge’s whitewater. Usually, area state parks supply the venues, their natural resources, and the excitement.
Throughout their week, campers have the chance to ask plenty of questions and are exposed to a wide range of career experiences, including water quality assessments, geology field studies, and overnight camping experiences. There are daily opportunities to meet and talk with conservation professionals about career opportunities.
Offered without charge, instruction and activities are overseen by specialists and officials of DCNR’s bureaus of state parks, forestry, and topographic and geologic survey. Selected students usually are from grades 10 through 12.
After the camps, attendees will have a chance to seek internships, and mentoring and job-shadowing positions, and return as future camp leaders.
Click Here for more photos from the camp.
For ECO Camp enrollment applications and information, write to ECO Camp Coordinator, Bureau of State Parks, Environmental Education and Information Division, P.O. Box 8551, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8551; or telephone 717-783-4356.
(Reprinted from the DCNR online newsletter Resource.) |
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8/22/2011 |
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