Summer Archives

Daniel Shaykevich Nashville, TN - Sierra Club - Inspiring Connections Outdoors

Inspiring Connections Outdoors (ICO) is a volunteer-run Sierra Club program designed to bring outdoor experiences and environmental education to inner city youth. The program allows youth to reap developmental benefits provided by nature and aims to instill environmental awareness within participants. Through the summer, I partnered with the Nashville branch of ICO to lead and organize outings, write lesson plans for the trips, build relationships with ICO’s partner agencies, and create a survey to measure success and gain feedback. I ended up being the primary leader for the majority of the summer’s outings, writing five lesson plans, and working closely with partner agency Youth Encouragement Services to bring the program to the children they serve. The attempt to create a survey was not successful, and new methods are needed to evaluate ICO. I gained insight into the importance of preparedness during outings, the best ways to implement environmental education, the benefits and difficulties of working with volunteers, and the characteristics of nature deficiency amongst urban children.