WILL Press Room
Project Connects Area Youth with Kickapoo Park
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
African-American teens from the Danville Boys & Girls Club of Danville spent a day and a half at Kickapoo State Park in Oakwood learning about how they and their families can enjoy Kickapoo and other parks in Illinois.
Read blogs and see video from the teens’ experiences.
The outing at the park on Thursday, June 24, and Friday, June 25, is part of a larger project to connect young people with the outdoors and to improve their media literacy. Later in the summer, the students will re-visit the park with video cameras to film public service announcements aimed at getting other kids out to the park.
Teens learned about park and water safety, and participated in canoeing, nature photography, fishing, stream exploration and hiking. They also helped park scientists study animals in the park by tagging geese and surveying fish populations.
Marc Miller, director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, welcomed the teens to the park and got the outing started.
“Kickin’ it at Kickapoo” is a project of Illinois Public Media’s Youth Media Workshop. The Kickapoo project was inspired by the new Ken Burns’ documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” which will air on PBS stations this September.
“Illinois Public Media wants to be part of efforts to involve more young people in having a direct joyful experience of our natural resources and to engage them using media tools to tell their story of nature,” said Kimberlie Kranich, co-director of the Youth Media Workshop.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is supportive of the effort, with site superintendant John Hott working hard to show the young people a good time. “We are really excited to be reaching out to young people in our community. We’re here to serve them and we want them to know what a great resource is in their back yard,” Hott said.
The river conservation non-profit Prairie Rivers Network helped run the activities. “We’re involved because we want to help sow the seeds for the next generation of conservationists,” said executive director Glynnis Collins. “If these young people fall in love with a place like this now, they will carry it with them for the rest of their lives and play a part in keeping our natural places clean and beautiful for those who come after them.”
The students are excited to be participating, said Rickey Williams, Jr., executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Danville, who had to turn kids away from the program. “There was so much interest in participating that I was able to use it as an incentive to help our youth not only improve their grades, but their attitudes and actions as well,” Williams said.
For more info:
Kimberlie Kranich
Illinois Public Media
217- 244-5072
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Glynnis Collins
Prairie Rivers Network
217- 344-2371
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