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Fundraising Deadline March 1st...
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Camp Cooper
& The Cooper Center
for Environmental Learning

 
We Still Need To Raise $96,075 To Break Ground This Spring
Help Us Finish Fundraising By March 1st

 
 
With more than 80% of funds secured, we are within reach of our goal to raise $500,000 by March 1, 2021.

Due to the pandemic, our field trip programs are taking place entirely online. This creates a unique window for us to begin construction this spring, without disrupting programs. Our planners predict that construction of our new sustainable bathrooms and showers will take 4 to 6 months to complete.

If we can raise the remaining funds to hit our goal by March 1st, we expect to be able to unveil new bathrooms, showers, and a solar shaded outdoor classroom when we return to in-person field trips in late September, public health permitting!

In designing a bathroom facility that can accommodate twice as many students, we faced a choice - bulldoze a large section of native desert to install a septic tank & leach field, or pivot to composting toilet technology that requires no leech field and will use less water overall. After consulting with Swaim Associates Architects, TUSD Facilities, and Watershed Management Group, we embraced a plan for odor-free, composting toilets that would leave the surrounding desert untouched, while reducing water use overall; truly a win-win.

Once constructed, Camp Cooper's bathrooms will become one of the largest composting toilet facilities in southern Arizona, serving as a model for the many ways we can each conserve water living in the Sonoran desert while making our facility more comfortable and accommodating at the same time.

 
We have raised $389,350 to date, and we have to raise just over $96,000 to put us over the top. Thanks to a generous gift, the next $14,575 in gifts will be immediately doubled!

If you can give - donate today!  If you know someone who might be interested in making a sizeable gift to support lasting change, will you share our campaign?

 
 
 
Cooper Center, In The Media

We have been fortunate to garner the attention of Tucson's media outlets in 2021, further spreading the news about Camp Cooper's "Extreme Makeover." In addition to an interview on NPR's Arizona Spotlight, we have received generous coverage on KGUN9s Morning Blend and print coverage in The Tucson Weekly. We are grateful for the support!

 
 
 
National Read To Me Day
Tune In March 2nd, 10am via Zoom

Teachers and students, join our staff on Tuesday March 2, for a special reading of The Three Little Javelinas.  Paige (Herb), Mariah (Butterfly) and Brittne (Cliff) will bring this classic book to life.

Learn more & sign up

To join in on the fun, we will be using Microsoft Teams meeting, this way teachers who use Zoom or Google Classroom can be in their regular class meeting, click on the event link and share their screen!

Formerly known as Dr. Seuss Day, National Read Across America Day is an annual event that is part of Read Across America. Each year, National Read Across America Day is celebrated on March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.  This day is a motivational and awareness day, calling all children and youth in every community across the United States to celebrate reading.
 
Teacher Feedback For Our Online Programs
 
 
"I think students will definitely take more time to notice the desert pollinators and point them out to their families, too!"

- 3rd Grade Teacher
 
"I was impressed of the [staff's] ability to do this over Zoom and the technology of using cameras...it was as if we were there with the two teachers, Cliff and Butterfly."

- Kindergarten Teacher
 
"Thank you so much for adapting to our current learning needs and allowing us to still be a part of the Camp Cooper experience!"

- 4th Grade Teacher
 
 
Online Field Trip Availability
PreK& Kindergarten teachers are invited to sign up for Spring 2021 openings.
While our elementary and middle school programs are wait-listed due to strong demand, we do have a few spaces for PreK & Kindergarten online field trips to be held this spring. 

Sign up here!

 
 
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 
The Cooper Center for Environmental Learning, an outreach program of the University of Arizona College of Education, sits on the traditional homelands of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui, who have stewarded this land from time immemorial. Aligning with Cooper Center’s and the University’s core value of a diverse and inclusive community, it is an institutional responsibility for us to recognize, represent, and acknowledge the ancestors, people, culture, and history our community resides on.
 

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