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July 2015 News
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Can you guess this park? Hint: Its birthday is coming up on August 2nd! Find the answer in next month's issue. 

Sunshine Early Learning Center in Washington, D.C. watching a performance at Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, VA.

NPT Selected to Receive National Park Service Centennial Funds to Get Kids to Parks

NPT​​'s​ youth education programs were selected as a National Park Service Centennial Challenge Project, a one-to-one match of $450,000 that will result ​​in a total of $900,000 specifically designated for the expansion of our Buddy Bison School Program and Kids to Parks Day National School Contest. ​NPS selected​ 106 projects to leverage a $10 million congressional appropriation​ with $15.9 million ​of ​matching funds. This partnership will enable NPT to engage approximately 15,000 under-served students with our national parks in celebration of the Centennial in 2016, and also supports President Obama's Every Kid in a Park initiative.

Every dollar that we raise now up to $450,000 will be matched by NPS to help us get children to our national parks this coming school year. ​Help us reach our goal by donating here. For more information contact grace.lee@parktrust.org or call 301-279-7275.

 

Steve Schuler biking in Moab near the Colorado River, UT.

NPT Welcomes New Leadership

NPT welcomes Steve Schuler to our Board of Trustees and Carolyn Cohen to our Leadership Council.

Steve is a partner and chief investment officer for Bridgewater Wealth & Financial Management in Bethesda, MD.  ​A graduate of Hobart College and the Securities Industry Institute at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Steve also serves on the board of the St. Paul’s School for Boys (Baltimore, MD), and as a volunteer for the Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake.

An avid sportsman (skiing, squash, tennis and cycling), Steve recalls an early visit to Yellowstone National Park. “After dropping off our son in Montana for college, I visited Yellowstone for the first time and was struck by the scale of its landscapes and the beauty of its wildlife. Ever since, I have valued the importance of sharing these national treasures with youth to create the next generation of park stewards. I am very pleased to be a part of National Park Trust’s board during this very exciting time as we approach the centennial celebration.” 

NPT board chair Bill Brownell states, "we are delighted to welcome Steve Schuler to the NPT board. His passion for our parks, youth education, and the outdoors, combined with his financial, investment and philanthropy expertise will be very helpful and timely as we expand our lands and youth programs in partnership with the National Park Service and other environmental organizations."

 
Carolyn Cohen was the inaugural recipient of our National Teacher Award, The Buddy.
For more than 30 years, Carolyn Cohen has been an elementary school teacher in both private and public schools in Montgomery County, MD. With a Masters in early childhood education from the University of Maryland and a specialization in the interrelated arts, Carolyn has been instrumental in applying innovative curricula in her classroom. And the Buddy Bison School Program is an example of an innovative program that she uses each year.

In 2009, she led the Bullis School (Potomac, MD) to become one of the charter members of the Buddy Bison program, using parks as a backdrop for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education and other subjects as well. Since Bullis is not a Title I school, they do not receive financial support from NPT. However, Carolyn knows firsthand the many benefits of the Buddy Bison program. In fact, she has even created several education modules for our Buddy Bison classroom toolkit including one on national parks. Her outstanding efforts to bring learning outdoors, was recognized when NPT joined by Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar presented her with our inaugural National Teacher Award for Excellence in Environmental Stewardship, also known as The Buddy.

Carolyn shared, "I believe that as educators, we have a commitment to teach our youth the importance of sustaining parkland, empowering them as stewards to preserve our national treasures."

Grace Lee, NPT's executive director added, "We are very excited and honored to have Carolyn Cohen join our Leadership Council. With her decades of experience as an innovative elementary school educator combined with her love for our parks, she will be a strong asset to our rapidly growing youth programs."
 

It's Park and Recreation Month 80s-Style!

Let's keep the momentum going from Kids to Parks Day. ​There still is time to celebrate Park and Recreation Month, organized by the National Recreation and Park Association​. July is the 30th anniversary of Park and Recreation Month! 

There are many ways to get involved​ and have fun at your local park.​ Check out their website ​for ​resources including local events​ — then get out and go!​ ​Follow us on Instagram ​@nationalparktrust ​to see how Buddy Bison is ​celebrating this month 80's-style.​ So whip out the ​neon shorts​, headbands, and stirrup pants and head to your local park. ​Be sure to enter NRPA's instagram contest here.​

 
Park Ranger Kip Walton leads Buddy Bison students at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, IN.

Leading the Way to Diverse Park Stewardship 

As ​published​ in a NY Times op-ed last week, "The national parks attracted a record 292.8 million visitors in 2014, but a vast majority were white and aging. The most recent survey commissioned by the park service on visitation, released in 2011, found that 22 percent of visitors were minorities, though they make up some 37 percent of the population.​....​The Census Bureau projects that the country will have a majority nonwhite population by 2044. If that new majority has little or no relationship with the outdoors, then the future of the nation’s parks, and the retail and nonprofit ecosystem that surrounds them, will be in trouble.”​

National Park Trust's vision is that everyone will have an American Park Experience. ​Since 2009, through our Buddy Bison School Program ​and national grassroots movement, Kids to Parks Day, we are working each day of each year to reduce the disconnect between our diverse youth​ and our parks​.​ 

​Together with your generous support, we ​are ​creating​ park experiences that will be treasured forever. ​To learn more how to get involved contact grace.lee@parktrust.org, call 301-279-7275 or donate here. Thank you!​

 


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