Addressing an audience roughly one-third her age, Ellen Ferretti faced the not-so-easy task of establishing common ground with her young listeners. She nailed it with just a few simple sentences:

“Among the many duties and commitments I have taken on since joining DCNR, one I truly enjoy is coming here to meet and talk with young students like you, who will be tomorrow’s professionals,” said DCNR’s acting secretary. “You are the best and the brightest, the future stewards of the environment, and we know what you see this week will help you shape your future career goals and interests when you leave. You represent the future, as wildlife specialists, foresters, park managers, recreation planners, engineers, geologists…just to name a few possibilities. It’s very exciting.”

The address came Monday, July 8, Day 2 of the week-long Environmental Careers Outdoors (ECO) Camp. Nineteen young men and women gathered to listen on grounds of the Kirby Episcopal House and Chapel in Glen Summit. From the Luzerne County landmark they would travel daily to nearby state parks, forests and waterways.

They were in search of daily new adventures and news insights into outdoors- and environmental-oriented careers.

Choices. That’s what DCNR’s highly successful ECO Camps have been offering upper high-school-age students the past 11 years as they bring them together with men and women who start their days as foresters, biologists, park managers, wildlife and waterways officers, geologists. And DCNR secretaries.

Hailing the ECO Camp program as among DCNR’s “strongest success stories,” Ferretti said, “As the program wraps up its 11th year, we are seeing past campers emerging as future stewards of this state’s bountiful natural resources. We know we have been successful in honing an awareness of the natural world and the variety of careers found there.”

Camper Morgan Calahan, a Freedom Area School District junior, couldn’t agree more: “ECO Camp has opened my eyes to the many careers and possibilities available to us,” said the Beaver Country resident. “I know this experience will continue to benefit us throughout our high school and college years.”

“It was a perfect place to learn about future jobs and career opportunities,” said camper J.C. Rodriguez. “Programs and staff combined learning and fun to show us a day in the life of a DCNR or other worker.”

Unhappy campers? Not here: “It’s something everyone should experience,” said Millersburg resident Danielle Miller. “I got to meet so many new people and make new friends, all the time learning about different wildlife jobs.”

Kimberly Walak of Marysville already knows where she is headed; her camp stay firmed up her convictions: “I’m planning to attend Penn Foster [College] and do my best to get a job with the Pa. Fish and Boat Commission. I want to be a conservation officer when I turn 21.”

New places, new experiences, new friends. They all came together for ECO Camper Carolyn Brown of Lingelstown, Dauphin County: “It was an amazing experience that helped me decide what direction I want my life to go in, career-wise. We, the campers, bonded very quickly. This was a wonderful experience.”

Summing it all up nicely for the young men and women gathered around her, State College resident Alexis Wasson used the two words heard often on the Kirby grounds:

“Thank you so much for this opportunity.

“This was a great experience for me. Being around so many people—speakers, counselors and students alike—who truly care about outdoors careers, and sharing that knowledge and enthusiasm, is a wonderful and rare experience. Not only was it loads of fun but it was incredibly educational.”

Always, the emphasis is on drawing diverse groups of student campers 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 backgrounds.

“These camps are a worthy investment in the future of our youth and our natural resources, and DCNR staffers proudly support them,” Acting Secretary Ferretti said. “Join them in meals and in conversation as I have, and you know instantly they represent a unique pool of intelligence, spirit and commitment to environmental improvement.”

They also know how 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, the excitement.

The ultimate goal of each camp is to introduce 20 to 25 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.

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 may have a chance to seek internship, mentoring and job-shadowing positions.

For ECO Camp enrollment applications and information, visit DCNR’s ECO Camp webpage, 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 July 24 DCNR Resource newsletter.)

7/29/2013