Natalie Hinderliter- Choice topic 2- Youth Conservation Corps

 As I was browsing for summer jobs, I came across a listing for the Youth Conservation Corps. The program provides teens with summer jobs working in the sate and national parks in the United States. The specific tasks of any posting are reliant on which park you are assigned to, but the majority of them focus on park maintenance. I believe that these types of jobs are invaluable to planting the seeds of the environmental movement in younger generations. Not only do these programs provide young people with job experience and the opportunity to make their own money, but they also give teens the chance to reconnect with natural or wild spaces. During these jobs, people are given in depth information and personal experiences that exemplify the importance of state and natural parks to local communities and the nation as a whole. Those employed in the program have the option to live on site at the parks they are stationed at, this gives them an even greater opportunity to connect with the ecosystems around them that they are working to preserve. I believe that more jobs and volunteer programs similar to this one would not only increase awareness of environmental issues among youth, but would also encourage the development of habits of stewardship for the earth. 

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