Critter Camp 2024

Our Pima Chapter Community Partner, the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning, hosted their annual Spring Critter Camp on March 11-12.  The Cooper Center site is situated on 10 acres of pristine Sonoran desert land, 7 miles west of downtown Tucson. Julie Concannon, Jane Hunter, Jack Brooks, and Justine Hernandez from Cohort 8 and Summer Marshall from Cohort 6 volunteered and assisted with planned outdoor programs for the Sunrise Drive Elementary school student group.  Fun and educational activities included mixing pallets of the desert, learning how to use binoculars, and how to identify tracks, skulls and scat.  The students surely had an unforgettable outdoor nature experience. – Intro Deb Petrich, Cohort 1

Volunteer Experience and Photos contributed by Julie Concannon, Cohort 8: Sunrise Drive Elementary School held Critter Camp at the Cooper Center on March 11-12.  Justine, Jane, Jack, and Julie from the newly-minted Master Naturalist Cohort 8 showed up to help out.  We completely enjoyed our time with the classes from  Sunrise School.  There were several classes at this camp.  One of the classes was a Chinese Immersion Class.  The kids were pretty surprised when I greeted them in Mandarin (Ni hao’).  You never know what skill you are going to use from your Master Naturalist Bag.  There were three stations for us to handle.  Jack volunteered for Mixing Pallets of the Desert Class.  I had never seen this activity before and went to observe them.  The activity of mixing colors to achieve desert colors made my fingers itch to do art.  Justine was selected to help with teaching children how to use binoculars-and bonus, she got to work with the researcher from Tucson Bobcats.   Those children spent time looking for Bobcat kittens on the adjacent mountain next to Cooper Center.  I ran the Skulls and Scat table.  It is pretty amusing to watch the kid’s faces when they finally realize the scat is rubber and that they could touch it.   I told my friends that “I was likely their only friend who had scat on their countertop.” They replied “certainly the only one that was proud of it.” Critter Camp was a really fun volunteer opportunity. 

Charlotte Ackerman, Catalina Foothills STEM Integration Specialist, created a file of pictures from the field trip for our viewers and naturalists to enjoy. In addition, she scanned thank you notes from the students that referenced their activities and some that expressed the students’ enthusiasm for the day so well. Charlotte noted: ‘…they are all still talking about it! Thank you to all for the help.’ Thanks to Peggy Ollerhead, Cohort 3, for providing Charlotte’s comments, photos link and thank you notes.

Camp Cooper Thank You notes