When Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder started receiving national recognition, park professionals were not surprised by what he wrote about but pleased that it was somehow getting national recognition. But while so many organizations that deal with children and childhood development have jumped on the bandwagon, there still seems to be a disconnect with parents so that we continue to need the message spread.
A number of fantastic partners got together on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at Welcome Map (formerly Welcome Kit) that should be out in our parks next week. In order to produce this advertising piece for a number of state park systems at no cost, they develop partnerships with organizations that support our mission.
At the core of Saturday's event is our corporate partner Occoquan Watertrail League were also on hand to talk about kayaking and display some equipment.
Students and staff from KIPP DC Charter School attended
Kids from schools in DC (like National Park Ranger Jeff Wolin entertained with great music and dancing.
We started with some short speeches with GSG's Shari Boyer as the MC. Yours truly welcomed the children, mostly 5th and 6th graders, to Mason Neck State Park and I encouraged them to pledge to spend more time playing outdoors. Other speakers included Grace Lee, Executive Director of the National Park Trust; Youth in the Great Outdoors.
Virgina State Parks Marketing Manager Tom Cervenak uses an ice breaker with
his group of kids before their hike
After the speeches we took the kids on a guided one mile hike and they visited the partner booths. Mason Neck Interpreter Ricardo Hoyos led one group and central office Marketing Manager Tom Cervenak another. Other groups were led by our event partners. There was also an exciting race between The North Face's athelete Big Foot, and some highly competitive young people.
Here is a slide show of the pictures from the event.