by SCA Alum, David Kurapka
It was paradise. My two stints with SCA account for a mere few months of my life, but their importance to me far outweighs the relatively brief time I spent in the program.
Dave pictured top row,...
Every year, SCA provides training, tools and projects that place motivated teens and young adults in the field to effect changes great and small. How do we measure the effects? Sometimes its through decreased CO2 levels or by the tons of trash collected or in the number of trees planted. Our success is also measured by the lessons learned, the perspective gained and the lives we transform—today and into the future. Often when the SCA project is over, the success story is just beginning. Take a look at some of our most recent accomplishments.
Posted by Kevin Hamilton | Tuesday, September 8, 2020
By Grace O’Hara, Richard J. Guadagno SCA Conservation Fellow
Nineteen years ago on September 11th our nation changed forever when four planes departed from various East Coast airports and never made their destinations. Hijackers took over the aircraft with the intent of crashing them into key locations. Two struck the Twin...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Thursday, August 20, 2020
“Get some fresh air.”
This phrase is commonly used during times of stress. There may be no time in history when getting outside has been more powerful for our health, both physical and mental, then through the COVID-19 pandemic.
But what is it that’s so calming about nature? The truth is –...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Wednesday, August 19, 2020
By Cecilia Aleman
It’s not often that legislation affecting conservation and young Americans is signed into law. So when one of the most pivotal conservation bills in nearly 50 years crosses the finish line – it calls for a celebration.
The recent passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, a bipartisan...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Tuesday, August 18, 2020
The overlay of past and present quite often astounds.
One hundred years ago on August 18th, America ratified the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote. A century later, a woman – a Black woman – is poised to accept her party’s vice presidential nomination for the November election.
...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Wednesday, June 24, 2020
by Pia Yarnell
If you’re just starting out in your pollinator garden journey, check out some of our resources on pollinator habitats and growing wildflowers. If you already have an efficacious garden full of native flowering plants, what’s next? Here are a few steps you can take to turn...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Thursday, June 18, 2020
Last week we asked our alumni, supporters, and staff to offer our SCA members who are graduating from high school or college in 2020 their best advice as they enter into a world demanding justice and equity.
We know their graduation ceremony will be different this year, but we can promise...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Wednesday, June 17, 2020
There are probably a few specific critters that come to mind when you first hear the word pollinator. Maybe you picture the well-recognized colors of a Monarch fluttering through your backyard. Or, honeybees and wasps buzzing from flower to flower. Unfortunately, we tend to overlook some other key members of the...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Wednesday, June 17, 2020
The next few days will be significant. Tomorrow is a somber Juneteenth. Summer officially arrives on Saturday. And June 24th is SCA Founder’s Day, marking 63 years since Liz Putnam launched SCA and a national movement. So climb aboard the WABAC Machine for a whirlwind tour of SCA history. Be...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Reflection is a key part of the SCA experience and over the past few and unusual months, many SCA alumni have shared with us the insights they have gained upon reflection. In 2019, Joe Negen, a student at the University of Michigan, participated in SCA’s Adirondack Corps, a five-month residential...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Thursday, May 28, 2020
by Kate Hagner
Like many youth-serving organizations, SCA had to cancel or postpone a number of its programs as a result of COVID-19. Our mission hasn’t changed, however. Our members are counting on these experiences to gain new skills, explore conservation careers, give back to their communities, and build connections. In...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Thursday, May 21, 2020
There has been a lot of pivoting for people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Folks may have imagined they would be working on a trail or teaching environmental education right now, but instead they are supporting their communities and frontline workers.
We are so proud of SCA alum Sarah Calhoun...
Posted by Cecilia Aleman | Wednesday, May 20, 2020
by Cecilia Aleman
On May 15, we celebrated Endangered Species Day to recognize thousands of different species across the globe that are in need of our help. In the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed several of these species as federally threatened or endangered. Their habitats...
Posted by Kevin Hamilton | Tuesday, May 19, 2020
“Don’t mind that sound,” said Liz Putnam. “It’s only my bird clock chirping away.”
Late last month, the recorded call of a yellow warbler signaled the start of an introductory phone conversation between SCA’s founder and its just-appointed president and CEO, Stephanie Meeks.
“This is a real treat for me,”...
Posted by Kevin Hamilton | Monday, May 4, 2020
by David Kurapka
Like so many SCA alumni I was deeply moved by Sarah’s reflections on how her SCA experience prepared her for being isolated and sheltered in place during the current crisis. It made me think of my own experiences with the SCA, both in the high school program...
SCA's Response to World Health Regulations
Posted by Lukas Miller | Friday, May 1, 2020
During these uncertain times, many organizations must adapt to a new kind of normal. It is imperative to update our regulations and behaviors as social distancing practices continue to expand. The Student Conservation Association
...Career Success, Education, People, Sustainability
Posted by Kevin Hamilton | Monday, April 27, 2020
Since 2018, SCA has engaged local young adults in GulfCorps, a program in which members restore coastal habitats damaged by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill while developing valuable career skills.
Since mid-March, however, SCA’s GulfCorps teams in Alabama have relocated from their waterfront worksites to their respective dens and dining rooms,...
Posted by Kevin Hamilton | Wednesday, April 22, 2020
This 50th Earth Day is unlike any other and Katie Wareham is celebrating in similarly unique fashion: she’s exiting a self-imposed 14-day quarantine.
But before we get to the end, let’s start at the beginning.
Katie, a 23-year old from Frederick, MD, is and has been healthy since starting as an education...
Posted by Kevin Hamilton | Monday, April 20, 2020
March 16th marked Zack Rowatt’s and Erica Watkins’ first day as interpretive interns at Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve. That’s also the day the White House issued a work-from-home advisory, the Dow fell 3,000 points, and America moved into a new phase of the coronavirus outbreak.
More than a month...
Posted by Kevin Hamilton | Tuesday, April 14, 2020
by Kevin Hamilton, SCA VP for Communications
On April 21, 2009 – barely three months after his inauguration – Barack Obama planted native trees with SCA volunteers at Washington, D.C.’s Kenilworth Aquatic Garden, an event that would mark his first Earth Day as president. Mr. Obama brought some friends, too,...