Voyageurs Classroom and Youth Ambassadors
Instilling Wonder and Environmental Stewardship in Future Generations
National Parks are outstanding outdoor classrooms that offer opportunities for students to make lasting connections to the natural environment. However, recent studies have found youth are lacking vital opportunities to connect with the outdoors. Voyageurs Conservancy launched the Voyageurs Classroom Initiative to create representative, equitable future for youth in the outdoors.
National Park Teen Ambassadors
Recent groundbreaking environmental movements have been led by high school students. However, many underserved youth are unable to build relationships with their National Parks. Since 2012, the award-winning Teen Ambassador program has sent over 164 teens on fully-funded, multi-day canoeing, outdoor leadership, and career exploration excursions in Voyageurs National Park.
Partnering with the National Park Service and Wilderness Inquiry, the Conservancy established the National Park Teen Ambassador program to increase access for Minnesota high school students to their National Park and champion environmental leaders in new communities.
“Nature offers endless points of view that we’ll never get to see. National Parks are important because [they take] all things you never get to see and make them accessible, put them in one place. I can’t remember why I was nervous in the first place.”
K-6 environmental Education
Environmental education produces a myriad of benefits for youth. Sanford Health research found children with increased access to outdoor play had improved social development, sensory skills, attention spans, and immune systems.
K-6 programs create experiential programs for youth to experience park trails, field days, and floating classroom opportunities that get children in the park via its waterways. Activities provide hands-on enrichment in ecology, history, and stewardship. The Voyageurs Conservancy works directly with schools in the gateway communities surrounding the park. However, we are consistently innovating ways to reach more youth throughout the state.
The Conservancy is rapidly evolving its in-classroom curriculum and virtual programming to reach students learning about the park from afar.
Learn about the park from home and become a Voyageurs Junior Ranger
Voyageurs Field Fellows
An absence of paid or college credit earning internships is one of the greatest barriers to increasing accessibility in the environmental field. We believe our public land professionals should be representative of America’s racial and socioeconomic diversity.
The emerging Voyageurs Field Fellows program will offer stipend-paid, summer internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to develop professional experience in wildlife biology, environmental education, aquatic invasive species prevention, cultural/historic preservation and more.
Field Fellows will conduct priority field work and research or help develop new education programs. In turn, fellows will build valuable job skills and represent a new generation of public land professionals.
youth field trips
The Voyageurs Conservancy is committed to giving the next generation of park stewards the opportunity to learn about nature, wildlife, conservation, and our public lands. With support from the Donald Weesner Charitable Trust and National Park Foundation, we are excited to offer travel grants for schools who may not otherwise be able to fund transportation to Voyageurs National Park.
Specific funds are available for Fourth Graders to visit the park.
If you are a teacher seeking aid related to transportation costs, please fill out this application and return it to us via email or fax (612-339-4731). We are excited to offer you this opportunity. Please contact us with any questions you may have at 612-333-5424 or info@voyageurs.org
Minnesota's National Park Legacy
The Voyageurs Conservancy and several other partners created the Minnesota’s National Park Legacy film. Copies are available to distribute to libraries and schools throughout Minnesota. We hope that this educational resource will help to inform young people and community members about the natural beauty that lies just outside their back door.
The DVD Companion Resource Guide for Educators has downloadable activities, but one of the most helpful resources is NP interpretive staff. Contact individuals at each Park site to learn more about the free tools available for educational use. You can request DVD copies of this film for use in your classroom by contacting us at vnpa@voyageurs.org.
