Page 10 - Gateways_2020_SPRING
P. 10
News Bites continued and the community center, the children planted 11 saplings and
various vegetables. They also learned to care for trees and plants.
Engaging Children
COMMUNITY With the Natural World “The children were so happy doing this physical activity and
seeing their accomplishments,” said Hope. More important, she
Ten-year-old Harmony and her 9-year-old brother, added, they learned how to work as a team and take ownership of
Jeremiah, are on a mission to save trees. When their father was a project. The programs’ projects engage children with plants,
planning to cut down a tree that was blocking a window view, they animals, and culture, through hands-on activities, including games
begged him to just trim the lower branches instead. Trees add beauty and crafts. Older children have inquiry-based projects, as well.
and life to her neighborhood—and are a refuge from stress, said Everyone enjoys a field trip to Brookfield Zoo.
Harmony. “I can go under a tree, take a couple of deep breaths, and
read a book to feel better.” ZAP! and the Zoo Explorers Club are part of CZS’s King Conserva-
tion Leadership Academy, a series of science and nature programs
Once a week Harmony and Jeremiah join other children who for children and families in under-resourced communities. King
attend schools in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. They Academy programs also include Nature Play ZAP! for children 5 and
meet with educators from the Chicago Zoological Society who run under and King Conservation Science Scholars for high school
the Zoo Adventure Passport (ZAP!) and Zoo Explorers Club programs. students. Several thousand children participate in King Academy
ZAP! is a program for families with children between the ages of 6 programs each year at no cost to their families.
and 10. Zoo Explorers Club is for middle schoolers.
Last year King Conservation Leadership Academy was proud to
The programs—a partnership between CZS, public libraries, and be a finalist for the prestigious National Medal for Museum Services.
nonprofit community organizations—meet at several locations in The Institute of Museum and Library Services bestows this honor
Chicago, Cicero, and Melrose Park. They help fill a need for after- each year to recognize institutions with extraordinary and innova-
school programs, encourage STEM learning, and connect children to tive approaches to public service. Zoo Explorers Club was made
nature and wildlife. “The programs give children skills and build their possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
confidence in science and in life,” said Shelly Hope, CZS’s community Grant MA-10-18-0018-18.
relations coordinator.
King Academy programs are also supported by the following:
Last May Hope led children in a tree-planting project at Bishop the King Family Foundation; Baxter International Inc.; Jim and Esther
Shepard Little Memorial Center’s community garden. The 7-foot Bryan; COUNTRY Financial; the Julius N. Frankel Foundation; the
saplings—all fruit trees—were donated by the U.S. Forest Service. Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust; the Gerald A. and Karen A.
With assistance from members of the Chicago Police Department Kolschowsky Foundation, Inc.; Lincoln Park Zoological Society;
Jerry and Sandy Manne; Microsoft Corporation; Nalco, an Ecolab
Company; the Edmond and Alice Opler Foundation; Peoples Gas
Community Fund; S&C Electric Company; the Schmidgall Family
Foundation; the Dr. Scholl Foundation; State Farm®; and the
Women’s Board of the Chicago Zoological Society.
For more information about King Academy programs and other
ways that Brookfield Zoo partners with local communities, please
contact Sarah Breen-Bartecki at (708) 688-8974.
Left, above: Children in CZS’s ZAP! and Zoo Explorers
Club programs planted trees at the Bishop Shepard
Little Memorial Center’s community garden in Back of
the Yards last May.
Left (from left to right): Darnell, 17; Javontae, 13; Shelly
Hope, CZS’s community relations coordinator; Harmony,
10; and Jeremiah, 9
10 GATEWAYS | NEWS BITES
