Sammamish Teens Present Sally Jewell with an Award for work with Youth

The YMCA of Greater Seattle, in partnership with the Department of the Interior, Google and REI held an event to promote getting kids into the outdoors this past Saturday. Five students from our Sammamish Community YMCA Jr. Teen Leadership Board traveled to Kirkland to attend the event. Also in attendance were 50 other students from other YMCA locations and Sally Jewell, former CEO of REI and U.S. Secretary of the Interior. 

Sammamish Community YMCA Teens present an award to Sally Jewel, Secretary of the Interior
Sammamish Community YMCA Teens present an award to Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior

At the event, our students learned about different aspects of the environment. We dug through dirt and inspected insects and fungi with Woodland Park Zoo, explored erosion and its impact on the environment with NatureBridge, used instruments to measure wind energy with Google Labs and talked about ways to limit the imports of endangered species with the Endangered Species Protection Agency.

In the evening, a family from the Tulalip Tribe shared a few traditional dances and songs with all the participants, and a story that highlighted how it takes perseverance to master a specific skill and the power of giving. Afterwards, the Sammamish Jr. TLB students were chosen to present Secretary Jewell with an award for her work to get youth outside. Participants later camped out on the Google campus in REI tents before heading home the next day.

The goal of the event was to highlight getting kids into our national parks. With three right here in Washington (the Olympic National Park, the North Cascade National Park and Mount Rainer National Park), the Sammamish Community YMCA encourage youth to join our Outdoor Program where we have activities planned throughout the year.

Next weekend (10/29 & 10/30) we head east of the North Cascades on an outdoor climbing trip. This winter we plan on snow shoeing, and next spring, expect a lot more overnights and trips!