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New Pre-K Play Space & Demonstration Garden!
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Camp Cooper
& The Cooper Center
for Environmental Learning

 
 
Cooper Reflects Upon A Year Of Challenges & Growth
On Earth Day 2021, we find ourselves reflecting on the year behind us, and the growth we experienced in spite of challenges. Our growth is attributable to remaining focused on our mission, the support of our donors and partners, and leveraging the creativity and flexibility of staff, teachers, and above all, our students.
In 2020-2021 the number of students served by live experiences with Camp Cooper educators grew by 27%, from 3,050 in 2019-2020 to 3,900 this year.

In addition to live-online, environmental learning sessions, Camp educators developed an on-demand science curriculum for parents and elementary school children to do together at home, reaching 550 families and more than 1,000 students over the last year, putting our grand total of students reached at nearly 5,000!
While this year has presented professional and organizational challenges, we are grateful for all the support we have received. We say this knowing that many in our community have suffered losses in the last year, and we extend our thoughts to you as we look to brighter days ahead.
 
Building Projects Happening At Camp Cooper
In addition to our plans to upgrade our bathroom facilities this summer, we're excited to share two other projects that will add new elements to our educational programs.
 
Early Childhood Nature Play Space
 
 
In 2019, we began piloting environmental learning programs for our youngest learners and we welcomed record turnout to our annual Preschool Nature Day. Aware that our facility and terrain are too rugged for young children, we began to envision an area that would be safe to explore while maintaining our unique Sonoran desert character and our ethos of hands-on learning. Thanks to the support of Ohio Children's Foundation, we are excited to break ground on the Camp Cooper Nature Play Space this summer!
 
Compost Cats Demonstration Garden
 
 
We are excited to announce that the UArizona Compost Cats, UArizona Office of Sustainability & Cooper Center for Environmental Learning have joined forces to create a garden space that incorporates a new compost and vermicomposting system as well as a native food plants and native pollinator plants garden. The aim is to create and maintain a space that will allow for interactive, educational experiences for all ages, showcasing examples of desert gardening, traditional composting, native pollinators, vermicomposting, rainwater harvesting, & more.
 
Staff Alum Spotlight | Zeph Migeni
Kenyan environmental consultant, Zeph Migeni conducted an externship at the Cooper Center in 2010-2011 and has since returned to Kenya to marry and continue his work for the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education, based in Michigan. In this article, Zeph answers questions about his background, his brief tenure with us at the Cooper Center, and his work since 2010.
Staff at Camp Cooper choose their own nature names, and Zeph's was one we love - Bush Baby - a sub-Saharan nocturnal primate also called a Galago.
 
 
Camp Cooper Wish List

Camp Cooper educators have put together a wish list for items needed at Camp Cooper - with amounts that will fit any budget.  Some of the items may be things you have around the house!  Check out our wish list, and if you're able, support Camp Cooper with a simple but useful gift!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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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