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August 6, 2017

by Kaitlyn Blansett, Cope Environmental Center

Junior Rangers at Cope

Centerville, IN (7/27/17) – How often do you hear kids get excited about volunteering? At Cope Environmental Center, we get to hear it all the time! This summer our “Junior Rangers” volunteered nearly 1000 hours of their time educating other kids about the Earth!

Junior Rangers are preteens and teens who are too old to attend camp, but still want to find a fun way to get outside! They come in every day and help our Summer Adventure Program leaders with every day activities like preparing delicious snacks, helping with crafts, and playing with the kids.

They learn responsibility, time management, and leadership skills as they help CEC educate the youngest members of our community about sustainability. Becoming a Junior Ranger means that you are an example for younger children and give preteens and teenagers responsibilities that help prepare them for adulthood. Junior Rangers are important to our Summer Adventure Programs!

Summer Adventure Programs are also important to Junior Rangers. In his first summer as a Junior Ranger, Coleson Campbell completed 114 hours this summer (the most of any Junior Ranger!), and says his favorite part about being a Junior Ranger is getting to play with the kids. Our longest active Junior Ranger, Josh Brady, has been volunteering with CEC for seven years and finds Cope to be a place of peace and tranquility. His sister Paige, also a veteran Junior Ranger, says she loves to encourage other kids—and herself—to get outside and get off their phones!

Cope Environmental Center loves giving preteens and teens the opportunity to take an active role in environmental education in this community.

(Check in regularly to follow guest blog posts by Kaitlyn Blansett, Cope Environmental Center.  You can donate to Cope with your time or monetary donations by visiting copeenvironmental.org).

Kaitlyn Blansett is the Community Outreach Coordinator at Cope Environmental Center. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and History from Indiana University in Bloomington. Kaitlyn has programming experience working with children in nature as a counselor at CEC in the summers of 2012-2014 and 2016. She spent the summer of 2015 vetting materials for the Living Building Challenge project that opened as the Sustainable Education Center in the fall 2016. Kaitlyn loves coffee, cats, and Cope (and alliteration).

 

About the Author KPass

Karole Passmore is a freelance writer who enjoys writing articles and short stories, interviewing local people, and researching non-fiction subject matter– preferably historical. Graduate of RHS, Ivy Tech Richmond, and Earlham College– with a major in History, Karole has spent most of her life in Wayne County and enjoys the quaint atmosphere of a small town.

Be seen by thousands of Wayne County residents and tourists every month!

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