Today’s Inspiration, Tomorrow’s Leaders The Nature Conservancy’s youth programs provide exposure to the real projects and challenges facing global conservation organizations. But many participants discover that the most important skills they gain are building relationships and working within communities.
says Danielle Brogan, a Y.E.T. intern. “I also valued learning how to talk with people and communicate about the natural world.” By the end of the program, interns better understand themselves, how to care for both people and nature and how the environment and people are intertwined.
Critical Thinkers Learn Teen Stewards Help at About People and Nature Kankakee Sands At TNC’s Indian Boundary Prairies Preserve, TNC’s Youth Environmental Thinkers (Y.E.T.) program, started by its community engagement specialist Debra Williams, provides 16- to 18-year-old interns with an experience that emphasizes and balances the care and value of people and nature. The program’s focus of “Climate Change Environmentally and Sociologically” is defined and applied as the interns are tasked with watching related videos, conducting research and interviews, taking action-oriented field trips and learning fromTNC’s stewardship team.
“I was already interested in environmental concerns but was surprised by what spending time in nature could do for me,”
At Kankakee Sands Preserve in PembrokeTownship, Illinois, TNC and Pembroke-Hopkins Park Community Development Corporation are continuing a long-term, paid summer intern program started by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We host the interns one day a week,” says Rob Littiken, TNC’s Kankakee Sands project director. “They do the necessary but fun work of restoration, like fixing trails and fencing, controlling invasive species and clearing areas for planting.” “We had an intern who is now a pilot, one who is a hip-hop artist and one who wanted to be a veterinarian but now wants to work in conservation,” says Littiken. “We’re thrilled for all of them.
But we especially like to show interns that there are jobs in this field, and in their community, should they wish to continue.”
Interns Thrive in a Village in the City On Chicago’s South Side, the Imani Green Health Advocates (IGHA) program focuses on conservation, spiritual growth and community health outreach. One of the places where they work is Imani Village, a sustainable mixed-use development with which TNC partners in many ways. TNC supports the IGHA program by funding its conservation interns and a fulltime program leader, while also advising on a curriculum around community conservation and local tree plantings. “I was surprised by the interconnections between social wellness and the environment,” says 22-year-old intern Maybelline Mariscal. “Like how having shade at a bus stop or a garden nearby instantly improves people’s emotional and physical health. I wanted to be a police officer but now I’m considering horticulture because I learned that changing the land where you live provides a healthier environment for the whole community.”
Youth Environmental Thinkers are tomorrow’s conservation leaders. © Debra Williams nature.org/Illinois 3
