USGS Multimedia Gallery: (Video)--California Mini-Corps Outdoor Education Training with Yosemite National Park and USGS

California Mini-Corps Outdoor Education Training with Yosemite National Park and USGS

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Hi my name is Ernesto Ruiz. I am the Assistant Superintendent in charge of the Mini-Corps program in the state of California.

I am very proud to be here this day.

Now as part of the Mini-Corps program, later on we established the outdoor education program.

The outdoor education program was established to provide migrant children mostly in grades 4th, 5th,

and 6th an opportunity to experience education using our environment.

We do that by training a cadre of college tutors that have been in the indoor program, have experience

working with migrant students and they receive specialized training as they did today.

Through naturalists, through park rangers about how to utilize the outdoors as a way of teaching

science concepts, teaching respect for nature, teaching leadership skills and helping them respect nature and our environment.

My name is Shauna Potocky and I am the Branch Chief of Education for Yosemite National Park

and today it was my honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to students who are working as tutors for the Mini-Corps

program. For us it’s important to be able to reach out and share our expertise to connect people

to their resources because it broadens the reach of what public lands and national parks can be for all people,

for all students and as environmental educators we have the opportunity to mentor the next generation of educators.

To really connect students to these resources and then take those conservation lessons home to their own communities and bioregions.

Truly one of the greatest ways that we can affect change in the world is through education and having passionate educators who have

all the tools that they need to help connect students to their resources. For me it’s an honor and pleasure to get to share that.

Hi my name is Steve Ostoja. I am an ecologist with the Unites States Geological Survey

here in Yosemite National Park. Not often as part of our job when we are out doing research

working for the resource agencies like the Park Service or the BLM or the Forest Service do we

get to interact with the general public especially youth educators but today we did. We were

talking to Mini-Corps here in Mariposa Grove. You might be able to see behind me it’s a beautiful

and spectacular place to stage an outdoor education opportunity and we just chatted briefly with these

young students and mentors about the resource that they have to use and skill sets that they can develop

and utilize for making linkages between the natural resources like here at Yosemite National Park and the

daily lives of the students that they will interact with. I am really honored to be a part of it and I am very thankful for it.

Details

Title: California Mini-Corps Outdoor Education Training with Yosemite National Park and USGS

Description:

USGS researchers share their experience and expertise with many federal and state education programs. On April 30, 2011, USGS Western Ecological Research Center ecologist Steve Ostoja and Yosemite National Park Education Branch Chief Shauna Potocky spent a few hours touring with undergraduate students of the California Mini-Corps program. A state program, Mini-Corps trains college undergraduates to be camp leaders and tutors for outdoor science education programs targeting migrant children in California between fourth to sixth grades. This training session at Yosemite National Park is just one way that USGS shares its knowledge with the future educators of our Nation.

Location: Mariposa Grove, CA, Yosemite National Park, USA

Date Taken: 4/30/2011

Length: 3:55

Video Producer: Ben Young Landis , USGS Western Ecological Research Center

Note: This video has been released into the public domain by the U.S. Geological Survey for use in its entirety. Some videos may contain pieces of copyrighted material. If you wish to use a portion of the video for any purpose, other than for resharing/reposting the video in its entirety, please contact the Video Producer/Videographer listed with this video. Please refer to the USGS Copyright section for how to credit this video.

Additional Video Credits:

Martha Aimé Cardona, Ben Young Landis

Source:

For more information see: WERC from the field

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