Environmental Progress - Summer 2003

Of Kids, Critters, and Caddis Flies

Junior GEC carries on with environmental education for campers

As their predecessors have done for the last 12 years, 10 interns in the Governor's Environmental Corps program spent part of their summer days scooping critters from the creek, took part in a "recycle dash" and sang songs about a worm.

A Jr. GEC volunteer shares a project with a patriotic day-camper.
Larger Image
(JPG 68K file)

The Jr. GEC interns over the course of the nine-week internship visited 14 camps in central Illinois to open up the wide world and wonder of nature and conservation to about 300 children. Most of the youngsters were 5 to 8 years old, with a few 8 to 11 year olds, in what was the biggest summer to date for the program, which this year was headed up by Barb Lieberoff, from the Agency's Bureau of Water.

"The Junior GEC program is just one part of the overall GEC program," Lieberoff said. "It's about outreach and education, and in my mind, that's where it all starts. We want these youngsters to become good stewards of the environment. When they grow up, I want them to be able to talk to their peers about the reasons it's not a good idea to throw away a soda can." Anne Gosselin, one of the Jr. GEC interns, added "We do hands-on activities so they can physically practice recycling, instead of just hearing us say that they should. As another approach, we have them relate their personal experiences so they'll be more likely to remember. It allows them to use the experience in their personal lives."

This year, the GEC interns called on Captain Earthworm, one of three environmental "Superheroes" on the Agency's Kids' Page, to teach conservation of resources. Informational panels like "Worms eat my garbage" continued the theme. Other exercises involved earthworm castings, "building" a caddis fly (a typical lake bug), an activity stressing the importance of water conservation, and participating in the recycle dash in which teams compete in sorting trash into correct recycling bins.

All the games are designed to teach the importance of conservation and protection of air, water and land. To demonstrate the theme, Jr. GEC interns donned boots and waded into Lake Springfield with nets to snag mayflies, leeches and hellgrammites, to demonstrate that the cleaner and healthier a lake is, the more aquatic life they'll find there.

"It's important to reach out to kids. It's important to get to them early while their habits are still forming, so the things they learn will be carried forward and become a part of them," said Jeremy Loscheider, a 2003 Jr. GEC intern.