Can teenagers effectively lead children in ecological explorations at LREC? The answer is YES! Ten teens in the Saint Louis Science Center’s YES program—Youth Exploring Science—visited LREC multiple times this summer. After becoming familiar with the LREC site, these young people, under the guidance of our own Volunteer Educators, facilitated ecological investigations for children enrolled in community-based summer programs. The YES Program, which recently celebrated its 20th graduating class, chooses teens through community partners who provide technical and developmental skills to youth throughout the St. Louis area. The teens interact directly with these organizations and community partner members to facilitate science events as well as participate in meaningful internships. In the words of Atagio, of one of the teen leaders that we met this summer:

Do you remember when you were a kid and were fascinated by the simple complexities of the outdoors? Worms could keep me occupied for at least an hour. Me and my brother would find cool looking sticks and be outside for hours just using our imagination. There is so much to be interested in when you step outside. It’s in our human nature to be fascinated by the outdoors. Somewhere along the lines of growing up, people stop spending so much time outside appreciating the cool little things that nature can offer. Playing with worms and insects goes from the coolest thing ever to being absolutely “gross”, making things out of stuff in the backyard becomes “weird”, and pretending to sword fight with sticks gets labeled as “lame”. This summer, the Agriscience YES teens have been helping kids stay connected to their nature loving instincts by teaching them in the outdoors. Read more.

The YES program is part of the Green Teen Alliance, a coalition of local organizations that engage youth from historically marginalized communities in environmental work. This alliance provides paid job opportunities for 75+ youth every summer. LREC also hosted two other Green Teen Alliance teams this summer: Nature Works (Forest Park Forever) and Flight Crew (Audubon Center at Riverlands). We look forward to a continuing relationship with these noteworthy youth programs.