Photo Credit: Courtesy of Kent Parks, Recreation & Community Services
The May 2015 issue of PRB featured a success story about how the Parks Department in Kent, Wash., tapped into a motivated and passionate volunteer workforce—high school students. Last summer, the department took it a step further and hired five local teens as interns to serve in the Youth Environmental Service Corps (YES).
The teens joined the Green Kent Partnership, a group of volunteers—along with public and private agencies—whose long-term goal was to conserve and restore more than 1,300 acres of forested parks and other natural areas to healthy, functioning habitats.
What They Learn
How can teens benefit from an internship? Selected from a strong candidate pool, the YES Corps (four boys, one girl) ranged from incoming sophomores to seniors. By coincidence, all four Kent high schools were represented, plus a Tacoma academy. They began their six-week internships in July and worked at five forested parks, learning: