The award is California’s highest and most prestigious environmental honor, recognizing individuals, organizations and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership in conserving California’s resources, protecting and enhancing the environment, and building public-private partnerships.
Now in its seventh year, Kids in Nature has served more than 1300 fifth-grade public school students in Santa Barbara County, providing an innovative program that enriches the learning experiences of underrepresented and underserved youth. Kids in Nature activities focus on environmental science, botany, ecology and habitat restoration.
The yearlong curriculum combines hands-on, place-based, classroom activities, interactive custom-designed computer simulations, and field trips to Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration at UC Santa Barbara, the UC Natural Reserve System’s Sedgwick Reserve and Arroyo Hondo Preserve.
“Kids in Nature provides students in our community with opportunities to observe, engage in and understand the importance of programs that preserve our ecosystems,” said program director Jennifer Thorsch, who is also the director of the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration. “We strive to help develop an educated population able to make informed decisions about the future of our environment and the animal and plant species who inhabit it.”
“I am delighted that the Kids in Nature program has received the 2007 Governor's award,” Thorsch added. “This honor is a milestone in the evolution of the program. Our approach of providing hands-on science education has increased student interest in science, improved student test scores and provided role models for young girls and boys.
Kids in Nature is one of 18 programs being honored at tonight’s ceremony in Sacramento, and one of only two winners in the category of Children’s Environmental Education.
The Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards program was established in 1993, and is administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources Agency, in collaboration with the State and Consumer Services Agency, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.
See video about Kids in Nature program:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/everyday/agriculture/sedgwickreserve/welcome.html
For more information about Kids in Nature, go to:
http://ccber.lifesci.ucsb.edu/education/kin
For more information about environmental education programs at UC Natural Reserve System sites, visit:
http://nrs.ucop.edu/K-12_brochure/NRS.html
For more information about the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards and this year's award recipients, visit the Cal/EPA Web site:
www.calepa.ca.gov/Awards/GEELA