Jason
Clark
A Success Story at Placer Nature Center
Volunteerism is a
valuable service for the community but also for personal growth and empowerment.
The willingness to volunteer for the Placer Nature Center led Jason Clark
into activities and programs he couldn't have envisioned the summer of
2001 when he was 13 years old.
Jason
answered a press release asking for Junior Naturalists to help with the
Junior Ranger program at the Nature Center. These teen helpers came for
a day-long training to familiarize them with the Junior Ranger program
and the responsibilities in guiding the learning of the young participants.
Jason's enthusiasm and personable nature made him a natural for this kind
of work. Young rangers enjoyed and requested working with Jason. It was
clear Jason enjoyed this work, too.
During
the coming fall, Jason was back but this time with his Boy Scout Troop.
His Boy Scout troop was looking for a project to do for the community
and the Placer Nature Center – always having something to do – quickly
found trails that needed to be mulched. Thanks to this effort our young
visitors could stay out of the mud as they walk the trails with during
their school class visit.
The
next summer Jason was back but not alone! Jason spread the word about
how much fun the Junior Naturalist work was and brought several of his
neighbors as well. Thanks to Jason's promotion we had plenty of helping
hands to work with the Junior Rangers during the summer program. Jason
didn't stop here with his involvement though. Next he decided he'd like
to be able to volunteer more at the Placer Nature Center. He took the
weekend-only docent training. Here he learned all about our exhibits and
our trails and was ready to host one of our Open Houses on site. After
training, he volunteered to give a group of Japanese students a tour of
our facilities and hosted one of our weekend Open Houses, too.
Jason's
experiences with the Placer Nature Center inspired him to continue his
volunteerism. He decided to represent us at the Gold Country Fair. He
organized our booth from the beginning to end. Getting tables, donated
printing for our flyers, and volunteers to help him. This was quite a
commitment for a 14 year old! The results were fantastic. He collected
60 names of interested young people for our Junior Ranger program.
Because
of his experiences as a Junior Naturalist, Jason was determined to get
a successful Junior Ranger program going for the Nature Center in summer
of 2003. With two other former Junior Naturalists, Alden and Nelson Harris,
they wrote a grant to the Grants Advisory Board for Youth. They decided
they would enhance the summer program by adding crafts, puppetry and more
nature games and wrote a grant for $1,100. Patiently they awaited word
from the grantors and were totally delighted, as we were, when they found
out their project was awarded the grant funds. Throughout the summer Jason
will take the lead in training and developing activities for the Junior
Ranger Program. As Jason says, " These programs are fantastic opportunities
for all participants to learn more about the natural world and also to
mature and develop leadership skills." He will also use this project
for Eagle Scout Award.
What
began as a summer volunteer opportunity expanded and grew into a full
project with lasting benefits for the Placer Nature Center and inspiration
for other teens in our community. We feel very grateful and honored to
have this young man's energies and talent shared with us and our visitors.
Jason Clark has modeled the true spirit of volunteerism using his energy
and ideas to benefit others in our community and what he has gained from
these experiences will benefit him the rest of his life.