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Tag: Latinas Outdoors

How to be a Latino Outdoors Trailblazer and Make a Career

Authors: Maria F. “Masi” Mejia and Cynthia Espinosa Marrero

 As Latinos continue to grow demographically, we are reaching new heights not only outdoors but also indoors. In her Study, Taylor (2004), stated that “ethnic minorities are severely underrepresented in the environmental workforce” (p. 4).  This quote can serve as a statement that representation of minorities is needed in the environmental workforce. By acquiring an environmental-related degree, Latinos are becoming part of the environmental movement, workforce and applying their cultural knowledge which is crucial. We, at Latino Outdoors, have been able to turn our experiences in the outdoors into higher education and ultimately careers and so can you! 

Some of us connected to the land at an early age and some of us at a later age, by camping, hiking, hunting, gardening, amongst other recreational activities. These various experiences exposed us to education and career opportunities that are possible in the outdoors. The possibilities are endless! To become a successful outdoor professional from a park ranger to wildlife veterinarian, one must pursue education from a high school diploma to a Doctor in Philosophy. Education should never cease, as it is something that no one can ever take away from you.

Maria F. "Masi" Mejia, pursuing a Master of Science at Texas Tech University in Wildlife, Aquatic, and Wildlands Science and Management.

Maria F. “Masi” Mejia, pursuing a Master of Science at Texas Tech
University in Wildlife, Aquatic, and Wildlands Science and Management.

Cynthia Espinosa Marrero, pursuing a Masters of Science at Antioch University New England in Environmental Studies concentrating in Environmental Education.

Cynthia Espinosa Marrero, pursuing a Masters of Science at Antioch University New England in Environmental Studies concentrating in Environmental Education.

 There are lots of opportunities available to students who are interested in careers in the outdoors.  We have compiled a list to help make any individual interested in pursuing a career in the field of natural resource management and recreation successful:

High School

For individuals entering high school or in their teens, it is important to Get Outside! When you get outside you connect with other outdoor professionals and enthusiasts. During these outdoors experiences, it is at this moment that you should ask as many questions as you can. Asking professionals and outdoor enthusiasts how they got to where they are can show you just how diverse people are. The classes that you engage more in high school will add more knowledge and experience! Don’t forget to take your ACT or SAT during your junior or senior year of high school. These academic placements tests, along with other qualifications are needed to enter a higher education institution to pursue an undergraduate degree in something you love.

Undergraduate Degrees

Undergraduate degrees in this field include environmental education, conservation biology, wildlife management, outdoors recreation, natural resource management, advocacy and social justice, sustainable development…the possibilities are endless! Degrees in other fields can also be applied to this field such as accounting and marketing, as they are essential to environmental organizations and agencies. Generally speaking, there are two types of undergraduate degrees. A Bachelors of Arts is a degree that focuses more on liberal arts classes related to the career field. A Bachelors of Science is a degree that focuses more scientific classes related to the career field. Both types of degrees are extremely valuable to natural resource management and recreation. You might want to ask yourself what job you envision yourself doing. A bachelor of science might be more valuable if you want to become a wildlife biologist. A bachelor of arts might be more valuable if you want to become involved in advocacy and social justice.

Graduate Degrees

The thirst for knowledge should never end. As an individual you should always continue to learn whether it is informally or formally. Graduate degrees in this field include Masters of Arts, Masters of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy. The differences in masters of arts and masters of science is similar to above. Typically a Master’s degree takes about 2-3 years to complete. An individual takes classes while working on research related to the field of natural resource management and recreation. A Doctor of Philosophy degree is next degree to pursue in higher education. A doctoral degree can take about 3-5 years to complete depending on the research.

A degree in higher education regardless of bachelors, masters, or doctor of philosophy means greater career opportunities in the environmental field!

As Latinos we should strive not only to pursue higher education, but to pursue higher education in career fields we love. For those of us who were able to connect the outdoors to a career we love, we are leaders of tomorrow.


Be sure to reach out to reach out to either of the authors listed above or your regional Latino Outdoors Ambassador to find out how your love of the outdoors can lead to a career!

 

References:

Taylor, D. (2004). Diversity and the Environment: Myth-Making and the Status of Minorities in the Field. Equity and the Environment. Research and Social Problems and Public Policy, Volume 15. pp. 89-147.

 

Summer Youth Camp at Salt Point State Park

I have seen the immense value of taking a group of Jr. and High School students camping every year.  The students learn valuable skills, they also create wonderful memories and connections with the outdoors, friends, siblings and youth leaders.

Latino Outdoors Regional Coordinator Melissa Avery and Esperanza Viva Youth Leaders Jesse Avery and Nate Rische took five high school students camping on three day/two night camping trip at Woodside Campgrounds at Salt Point State Park (August 2014).  The students enjoyed learning outdoor skills, hiking, camping, playing soccer, cooking, and much more.  Salt Point State Park was a great location to camp near the beautiful Northern California Coast.

“I liked how we played soccer on the beach, but the ocean was very cold and I’m scared of sharks.”
Simon ~ 8th Grade (Stump Beach Cove)

At Camp…

Everyone is usually very excited to get to “camp,” most of our students have been camping before with their families but none of them had ever set up their “own camp.”  As good youth leaders, we gave the students a few moments to enjoy their natural surroundings before we started handing out responsibilities and tasks.

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Our students had never set up their own camps so to their shock, and even though we had told them many times before, many expected the “adults” to set up camp for them.  We love teaching responsibility to our students and having them set up their own camp is a great way to do it!  Since everything is a race with teenagers, the boys scurried off to their campsite to build their tents while the girls timidly started setting up their own tent.

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I was particularly proud of my girl students because not only did they “beat” the boys in setting up their tent but they also set up their tent  correctly on the first try!

“I liked how we learned to make fire and how we cooked all our food on the campfire.”
Simon ~ 8th grade

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“I enjoyed teaching the students to chop firewood and different methods of how to start a campfire.”
Jesse ~ EV Youth Leader

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FIRE! One of the primal elements of life was one of the favorite teaching moments among the students and leaders during the camping trip.  Many times growing up in the urban environment children are taught fire is dangerous but never taught how to use it as a survival tool.  Jesse taught the students how to make kindling and properly start a fire with matches and magnesium fire kit.  The students were really enthralled with trying to start the campfire with magnesium!

In addition to making fire to keep us warm, all meals were cooked by fire and the students were responsible for preparing their own meals, something the kids had never experienced before.

The Beach and California Coastal Cliffs…

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“I liked hiking to the coastal cliffs because I’ve never done that before.”
Andrew ~ 9th grade

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Two of our four main “activities” included the beautiful Northern California Coast: hiking to Sentinel Rock Viewing Platform, and enjoying the beach at Stump Beach Cove.  Unfortunately, we never found the viewing platform because the students were so enthralled with the cliffs and tafoni formations in the sandstone along the way.

SPSTCoastline

At Stump Beach Cove (1st picture) the students played soccer and relaxed in the sun.  I had the opportunity to sit and stare at the ocean with Ashley, a high school senior.  We talked, looked at the marine debris washing up on the shore and to our surprise harbor seal popped up several times along the cove.  That was very memorable for the both of us because we could see it staring directly at us!

Hiking and Huckleberries…

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My favorite outdoor activity to do with students is hike, for many reasons!  Learning and teaching by “experiencing” in the outdoors is a great way to effectively teach what a classroom might take away.  Teenagers also have a lot of energy despite of their “sleepiness” and hiking drains their energy in a good way!

We had two main hiking locations at Salt Point State Park.  First we attempted to find the beautiful Rhododendron flowers at the Kruse Rhododendron State Natural Reserve and second we hiked through the Pygmy Forest.

At the rhododendron reserve we were unfortunately a couple months too late to enjoy the flowers at the actual reserve but we later realized we had seen them all along drive up the coast.  We still had great time on our two mile hike.  We had lunch among the redwoods and even had some students and leaders drinking straight from the creeks which they found very amusing (with a water filter, Lifestraw).  New experiences for every one!

The Pygmy Forest was a favorite for many!  During this hike, we were able to find a multitude of huckleberries and a few blackberries which the students hesitantly tried.  Eventually, I had to tell my “pickiest eater” student to stop eating so many huckleberries because we actually had to finish hiking!!

We were hiking among giant trees all morning and once we reached the “top” of the hill we were in a completely different environment.  The students kept asking why the trees where tiny…eventually we found a kiosk and learned about the geology of the Pygmy Forest, while we ate leftover carne asada and snacks!  Personally, I loved walking through a forest with trees the same height as myself.

PygmyTrees

“My favorite part was hiking…it helped me take my mind off of things.”
Ashley ~ 12th Grade

SPSTHiking

“I liked when we hiked along the little trees (Pygmy Forest), I just liked hiking.”
Josue ~ 10th Grade

SPSTPygmy

“Berry picking!  Also, I loved how every tree had a “face” on in it!”
Elizabeth ~ 9th Grade

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“It was really exciting to see the teenagers, who barely have a chance to get out of their neighborhoods except to go get fast-food, be able to pick and eat wild berries right off the vine.”
Nate ~ EV Youth Leader

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As a youth leader, I truly love watching my students just explore nature’s surroundings.  Just as I enjoy watching my own children explore the forests, beaches and mountains, I love hearing what my students think of the outdoors.

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From overcoming fears and complaints turning into requests, are some of the things I most look forward to when I take a group outdoors.  Hastily drinking from the camp water spigot to drinking from a creek, complaining about hiking then wishing we could have hiked more are some of the turnarounds I enjoyed on this trip.  More importantly, I enjoy how being outdoors fosters long lasting and meaningful relationships with my students so my fellow youth leaders and I can help them grow into contributing members to our community.

For more pictures please visit our Facebook Album: Click Here

Thank you to the Resources Legacy Fund and the Bay Area Wilderness Training for your support, gear and training to getting youth outdoors and the Latino community outdoors. Thank you to the parents who entrusted us with their children and to my fellow youth leaders Jesse Avery and Nate Rische.

LOProfileMelissa is a LO Regional Coordinator for the San Francisco Bay Area where she works to partner with organizations and facilitate outdoor activities with families and youth students.  She also is a youth leader at her local church and an outdoor family blogger at Chasqui Mom, where she writes about her personal outdoor family adventures. 

 

 

What is ‘Natural’ ? : Reflections on Green Spaces and Places

What is ‘Natural’ ? : Reflections on Green Spaces and Places

Listening in on a course in the past month, I had heard the mention of the natural environment and how, some scholars really don’t like that term. Immediately, my gut reaction was pretty visceral. The idea is that everything should be considered our natural environment. When I first heard this notion, I was a bit repelled. Growing up in California, there was a VERY clear divide, in my mind, between the urban environment and the “natural” environment.

To me, the “natural” environment contained within it, rolling hills spotted with oaks, sprawling meadows that stretched for miles, craggy cliffs that sunk down into fresh ocean spray and dense, damp, forests with silent sentinels for trees.

I was extrapolating about this during my trip in November to Stonehenge.

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Three friends of mine and I decided to take an impromptu trip out to Stonehenge and Bath in the UK. “Let’s get out of the city!” I urged my friends. I’m decidedly, one of the “outdoorsy” people of the bunch, but the appeal of seeing one of England’s oldest and most iconic monuments was enough of a pull to get them all to agree to venture out. With much enthusiasm as well, I might add. Add this to the claustrophobia of London and it was a done deal.

It was an early morning bus ride we had to take to get there. The views of English countryside were a greatly welcomed sight. London has quite a few large parks, but there’s always the impending sense of ending when you’re in one. The inevitability that there will be pavement or concrete sooner than you know.

Here, peering out over vast expanses of green pastures, saturated from fresh fallen rain, I was excited at the prospect of feeling that connection with nature.

The air was decidedly chilly but not as bad as it could have been. After a short ride in a tram, we came upon the hilly area where Stonehenge sat. Sarsens stones and bluestones make up the rocks and boulders within it. Outside of this, one of the oldest dated portions, is a circular ditch with an outer and inner portion. There has been widespread debate about the purpose behind Stonehenge. Theories range from being a burial ground to a possible house of healing. The headphones provided give one a tour of the site and you can take your leisurely time walking around the monument to explore various pieces of it. If you’d like to know more about the history of Stonehenge, I’ve provided a link to the heritage site here.

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As I walked around though, I noticed how relieved I had felt. It had been my first major outing outside of London in a couple of months. This time, my eyes stared up at the marble, gray, skies, which swirled and covered everything. My favorite part of the day, was being able to take photos of the things that were bringing me peace at that exact moment. The sun just glinting in slants through the clouds, the curves of the rolling hills, spatter of mud mixed with grass.

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It was also fantastic to see my friends with me out of the city. Enjoying something new and getting closer to the outdoors. The soft air smelled of drenched earth and I tried imagining what the landscape might have looked like before the farming, where the tree line may have originally started which I saw in the distance.

Two of my good friends here are Latinas. One of them is from the Dominican Republic; the other has Puerto Rican roots and grew up in New York. My friend Pam, a born and raised Dominicana, gave me some of her thoughts on the connection between herself and nature.

“As a person that lives in a tropical country, one of the things that I love the most is being constantly surrounded by green spaces. However, the downside of this privilege is that sometimes you don’t appreciate all that beauty that you face every day. I believe that is my case; it is only when I go to the mountains or the beach that I stop and take it all in. I absolutely love going into nature basically because…you find answers…it helps you connect with ideas that you never thought you could encounter.”

These notions and my experiences at Stonehenge then caused me to connect back with what had been said in one of my courses a couple of weeks prior, the concept of the “natural” environment. Where did it start? Where did it conclude? There was the socio-politically charged notion that, for the environmental movement as a whole, it would behoove us to encourage the common linkage between what is traditionally considered natural landscape i.e., earth, trees, plants, rivers, lakes, etc. as intrinsically tied to everything. To encourage the thought process that, cities are in fact, also ‘natural’ environment. I mean, here I was, feeling a connection to nature when in reality, there was so much there that had been moved, etched, dug, and shaped by human desire. But why did I feel so different here? Why was this such a hard thing to find in a city?

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I want to change this perspective and I challenge others to do the same. What I think of as true “nature”, high mountains, cliffs, woods, and everything in between, brings me such inner peace. I have many notions as to why I keep the idea of that type of nature and the kind found in our everyday urban settings separate, but I invite others to join the conversation. I want to find the kind of therapeutic healing I find in the natural landscape in my everyday. It would definitely promote a much healthier lifestyle with me, considering much of my life has been within highly urbanized settings. However, do we really draw lines about where “nature” begins and ends? If so, why do these lines exist and what does this mean for our daily interactions within our environments?

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As I step into the New Year, I bring with me these thoughts and ideas. I also bring with me the wonderful memories I’ve created in the environment so far, whether it’s in a park down the street, or in the vast expanses of green spaces. I wish for everyone else, all the same. Great memories, personal reflection and enthusiasm to get out there and bring your friends along for the adventures that await!

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Estefani Morales is a new Latino Outdoors Ambassador abroad. She is pursuing a graduate degree in London. Stay tuned for her stories, narratives, articles, and other contributions as an ambassador abroad! You can contact her at emorales@latinooutdoors.org.