CASTING CALL and lots of travelling!

Earlier this month Cooper Center staff were invited to participate in Ben's Bells Camp Kind. This summer camp focuses on the importance of practicing kindness and compassion to one another and to all living things. These concepts are also at the heart of Camp Cooper’s educational philosophy, making this collaboration an excellent way to promote being kind to desert plants and animals and each other.

Cooper staff arrived at Ben’s Bells downtown studio and after quick introductions, it was time to head out into the courtyard where campers were treated to a reading of ‘Life in the Slow Lane: A Desert Tortoise Tale’. The book demonstrates how different animals have adapted to living in the desert and how construction and human development endangers these animals’ homes. The Cooper team performed a puppet show to accompany the story, singing and games.

To round out the day’s events, Camp Kind was introduced to Cooper Center ambassador animal, Momo, the Cooper desert tortoise! Children had the opportunity to offer Momo fresh greens which he happily and hungrily ate while Rocky, Ben’s Bells resident courtyard squirrel watched from close-by.

Last month, Ben’s Bells also installed a mural wall at Camp Cooper, making the camp an official “Kind Campus”. Camp Cooper at Camp Kind is just another facet of the growing partnership between the two organizations, and the Cooper team and Momo are eager to participate again at Camp Kind in the future.

Do you know a child who had an incredible experience at Camp Cooper and who would be comfortable talking about it on camera? We're producing some video content this summer and we need some SUPER STARS!

We are looking for elementary students who have recently visited Camp Cooper as part of a field trip and had an amazing experience while learning about the science and nature of our incredible desert. We're filming later in July for videos that will be used in promoting our programs and in our fundraising efforts.

If you know someone who might be interested, share this info with them! If you are a parent or guardian of a student who loved their time at Camp Cooper, get in touch! You can contact Cooper Marketing Specialist Kyle Mirzaian at kylemirzaian@arizona.edu for more info.

Our education staff are busy this summer jet-setting far and wide for Cooper! Summertime is an opportunity for our team to pursue professional development, attend conferences, and to introduce our educational programs to other outdoor classrooms and organizations. We take what we gain from these experiences and put it right back into our own environmental lessons and activities, too, making the Cooper Center an even more valuable learning resource for children and families, educators, and our greater community.

Tucson Regional Educator Collaborative (TREC) Summit

The TREC Summit was held on June 4th and Cooper Center educators were eager to participate. The event was an opportunity for teachers to gain new insights and knowledge from the many professional development workshops being offered. The summit was centered around the themes of “Celebrating and Sharing Successes” with a keynote from National Teacher of the Year 2021 and University of Arizona College of Education Alum, Juliana Urtubey, NBCT.

After the event, Cooper teachers met to discuss the big takeaways from each of the workshops attended and how these insights could be tailored to the unique outdoor classroom programs we offer. Some of these resources and ideas have already been implemented in our summer activities and are being included in our fall field trips!

Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project Conference

Earlier this month, Cooper Educators Jen Galan and Alexianne Ramirez attended the Climate Reality Project Conference in Las Vegas. Their goal was to better understand how our work at Camp Cooper fits into the greater mission of combatting climate change issues around the globe.

Upon returning from the conference Jen had this to say, “The Climate Reality Project Conference gave a brutal but necessary global perspective of the climate crisis.” With a keynote from Vice President Al Gore, the conference makes clear some of the difficult facets of climate change.

Earthkeepers is a program of the Institute for Earth Education that is practiced in countries around the world, including Australia, Bolivia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States. It has been the hallmark program at Camp Cooper since 2008. Learn more about this 3-day, 2-night program for 4th and 5th grade students by clicking HERE.

We’ll have more to report in next month’s newsletter about this amazing collaboration.