SCA to Participate in National Film Screening in Washington, D.C.
The Student Conservation Association joined forces recently with other advocates of youth service and stewardship at the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, DC for an event titled “Films about Engaging the Next Generation of Conservation Leaders.” The presentation featured several prominent speakers including Robert Bonnie, USDA Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment; Bill Basl, Director of AmeriCorps; Congressman Raúl Grijalva, Arizona; Carl Rountree, Assistant Director of National Landscape Conservation Systems and Community Partnerships for the U.S. Department of the Interior; Mary Ellen Sprenkel, President & CEO of The Corps Network, and SCA’s own Laura Herrin, Vice President for the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast Region.
SCA’s short film about its National Park Service Academy program in the Great Smoky Mountains was among the showcased videos, highlighting how SCA is fostering a skilled, motivated, and ethnically diverse 21st Century Workforce for America’s national parks. The Corps Network also debuted its new short film, Discovering the Boulder White Clouds, about a trip made by urban youth in Baltimore’s Civic Works to Idaho. Trip participants visited an area of Idaho that might soon become a national monument and also gained new perspective on their own environmental service.
The event was attended by over 100 conservation and youth development advocates. “The extraordinary stories of stewardship at this screening painted a hopeful portrait of our public lands,” said SCA’s Herrin. “SCA remains committed to empowering the next generation of conservation leaders, and it is so encouraging to see that the movement launched by Liz Putnam nearly 60 years ago and embraced so many since is continuing to gain momentum.”
Descriptions and links to all of the films that were screened can be found here.
