The St. Johns County parks and recreation department is known as a valuable resource for both residents and visitors of the area to use for a greater sense of community, appreciation of nature and respect for nature.
And a popular time that children have to explore outside is during spring and summer breaks, the first of which is on the horizon and will be March 17 to 21 this year.
The weather during March in Florida is often very inviting to spend time outdoors in an attempt to either soak up some sunrays by going to spots like the beach or getting active in a variety of ways.
The main youth camp during spring break that St. Johns County parks and recreation is putting on this year is called “sustainable futures: career camp,” which will be held at San Sebastian River Park during the official spring break week for students in high school.
It will be a daily camp from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and it is designed to give students the opportunity to explore exciting career paths in the fields of environmental studies through a hands-on camp experience.
While many camps are geared toward younger ages, the focus of this one is unique because it looks to introduce students to new discoveries in a time when they have many career path choices perhaps on their mind.
A variety of careers will be highlighted during the camp, including the areas of environmental science, wildlife conservation and sustainability.
These are fields that until the camp a student may not have had the chance to go through the steps of learning what it takes to have a career in one of those fields and hopefully leave with a better sense of who they are and where their passion may lie.
On top of the insight gathered during the weeklong camp, each student will also earn 10 service-learning hours for taking part in the meaningful environmental community projects that will be part of the camp itinerary.
Even if a student does not discover that an environmental career path is for them, the goal of the camp is to at least pass along practical knowledge that they can use moving forward to be the best stewards of the planet they can be.
Registration for the camp closes on March 13 and the cost to take part is $200 per student.
