Have we been keeping our readership in suspense? The blog on the final days of Youth-LINC's week long adventure is finally here!
DAY 6
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| (Left) The Campers and a few more Outsiders posing with Woodsy! (Right) Ivan Levin and Woodsy Owl! |
In case you never heard, Youth-LINC stands for Youth Leadership in Nature Challenge. Leadership has an will always be the cornerstone of this program. That’s why Youth-LINC 2012 final event, the Outdoor Nation Summit 2012 was such a perfect match.
Outdoor Nation's overall goal is to get more people outdoors through projects designed, implemented, and was founded on the principle that if the youth of our nation are to be encouraged to get outside, then they themselves should be making it happen.
First thing Saturday morning, Outsiders filled the Thompson Conference Center at the University of Texas at Austin after a continental breakfast provided by Outdoor Nation. Ivan Levin, Outdoor Nation's director and Chris Bui, the main facilitator, focused the Outsiders on creating a project through a very democratic process. After learning how to use the electronic keypads Outdoor Nation provided and answering a few demographic surveys, Outsiders voted on the most important rights and responsibilities related to being outdoors. Then Outsiders voted on the top 5 issues that prevent people from enjoying the great outdoors. Outsiders brainstormed projects based on one of those 5 issues or a different issue they thought was more important. Projects were fleshed out in little more than an hour and turned into Outdoor Nation. At the end of the day, the Outsiders we're charged with coming up with a 4.5 minute or less presentation to pitch their idea Sunday Morning.
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| Youth-LINC 2012, equipped with the rapport they developed over the week, collaborate on their succinct and beautiful undertaking |
All the participants, especially Youth-LINC, were quickly electrified with new ideas and hope. Youth-LINC 2012 devised Nature's Art Project of Houston a series of art projects intended to beautiful local community parks and connect people to nature through art. Their first project is From Bleak to Beautiful, in which our Youth-LINC campers, now official Latino Legacy Amigoes del Bosque, will create a mural on the Ripley House Charter School (4410 Navigation Blvd, Houston, Texas 77011) using trash found around the area. Youth-LINC worked late into the night on Saturday refining their project, preparing for the presentation, and constructing the example mural pictured below. This was after they got finished dancing all their pent up energy under the thundering skies.
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| Me and My Wife Lyndi dancing under rolling strokes of light, brought to us by a generous thundercloud over McKinney Falls State Park. |
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| Alberto and Alma, creating a work of (recycled) art. |
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| "Rain drops keep falling on my head..." |
Yes, you read right: thundering skies. It rained AGAIN on Youth-LINC's camp Saturday evening, but it didn't even slow down their work on their project, or erase their smiles.
DAY 7
Ivan gave Youth-LINC this sagacious advice for their presentation: "the presenters that have everyone speak, that practiced the night before, and engage the crowd do the best." Youth-LINC took that to new level with a mini-parade of singing and shouting as they brought their beautiful up front. Ivan Lara lead the crowd in song and dance, and we got at least one positive response to the energy on @FriendsNFGT. The campers did an excellent job talking about their project and we are very proud of them.
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| After a jumping presentation.... |
Their contagious enthusiasm paid off: we won a $1,000 dollar grant from Outdoor Nation! The project will soon be moving forward. We will keep you posted on the project as details come.
Go Youth-LINC!
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| ...Youth-LINC 2012 Jumped for joy! A $1000 grant from Outdoor Nation was ours! |
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