“The friendships you make will be stronger than what you have right now.  You become best friends and even family.” ~Jeremy Byler

Jeremy Byler, a senior at School Without Walls in Foggy Bottom, originally signed up for SCA to earn community service hours.  Once Jeremy started participating during the school year with the CLC program in 2004 (Conservation Leadership Corps), he realized how important nature was to his life.  Jeremy is now in his third year of CLC and volunteers twice a week at the SCA office.  “It is a passion that drives me,” Jeremy says.  Jeremy’s first crew was to Yellowstone National Park and his second was to Alaska. “All of us had the same awe inspiring feeling when we were in the outdoors.  Nature brings out the best in everyone,” Jeremy remembers about his experience.

 “As long as I’m doing something that helps, it makes me feel good.” ~Antica Howel

Antica was on a 2006 DC Summer Commuting Crew in Rock Creek Park.  She learned about SCA through her brother and cousins.  They told her that SCA is a great way to learn about the environment in a hands-on way.  “I’m great at observing things,” Antica says.  “People throw trash on the street and I say, enough.  I pick up other people’s trash or tell my friends to pick up what they dropped.  I’m a contentious person, I know things that shouldn’t be done and not picking up trash is one of them.”   

"You gain skills for life.  It’s a good experience.  Even if you don’t like the outdoors you are still going to like it [SCA].” ~Jean Baptista

Jean Baptista is 16 years old and is a junior at Cesar Chavez PCS on Capital Hill.  When Jean found out about SCA in his English class, he said to himself “I’ll never get accepted, but I turned in my application, got interviewed and got in.”  When asked why he wanted to join SCA, Jean said he “wanted to work for the environment and meet new people.”