• Skip to main content
logo header
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT US
    • OUR MISSION & VISION
    • HISTORY
    • STAFF
    • BOARD MEMBERS
    • CONTACT US
  • PROGRAMS
    • Learn About™ Programs
    • LEARN MORE ABOUT FORESTS
    • URBAN STEWARDSHIP PROJECTS
    • EAGLE CLUB
  • PARTNERS
    • YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS
    • NATURAL SITES
    • ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
    • UNIVERSITIES
  • DONATE
    • SPONSOR A YOUTH
    • CONTRIBUTION LEVELS
    • SPONSORS AND DONORS
  • GET INVOLVED
    • NATURAL RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS
    • BECOME A CHAMPION
    • VOLUNTEER
    • ALUMNI
    • EMPLOYMENT
  • NEWS
    • IN THE NEWS
    • EVENTS
    • HIKE-A-THON
    • NEWSLETTERS/ANNUAL REPORTS
  • GALLERY
    • VIDEOS
  • CONTACT

youth

Learning to trust myself

August 5, 2020 by MaJa Kietzke

Alexander Voisine is a rising sophomore at Holyoke Community College studying Environmental Science. Growing up in Belchertown, he was connected to nature from a young age, exploring the forests and natural areas around his home. Later, he passed on his love for nature to younger students in the Ecomentors program at Belchertown High School. Alec plans to continue his education at UMass Amherst, exploring his interests in the natural sciences and education.

While at Eagle Eye, Alec developed a lesson on aquatic ecology with his fellow intern Jenna Shea and took the lead on designing and constructing interpretive signs for a collaborative intern project.

Below is Alexander’s reflection on the 2020 internship program.

This opportunity taught me a lot about myself and nature, as well as how to bring the experience of nature to others. I plan to bring a lot home with me when I leave. For starters, I plan to bring home the dairy-free part of the diet. I was surprised how well my body felt after a transition to this new way of eating! While we’ve been here, we’ve acquired many new skills, as well as developed existing ones. Working on the deck for the cabin, for instance, allowed me to gain hands-on skills with tools I don’t use very often. 

There is one last thing I’ll take home with me that I’ve discovered while I’ve been here. I stepped out of my car a different person than I am today. I had an idea for my life, but no real sense of direction. As I spent time here, I began to see myself differently, thanks to Cass and my fellow interns. With the feedback they gave me, as well as taking time to reflect, I was able to discover new skills I never knew I had, and I learned to trust myself and my goals. I now plan to explore school and careers with this new confidence and these uncovered skills. 

Being out in nature for three weeks has allowed me to reflect on myself and learn to trust my skills and knowledge. I also found that teaching and the environment are both things I enjoy and plan to investigate education and careers in that direction. This internship is very valuable for college students. It can teach you new skills, hone existing ones, give you a new perspective on yourself, and provide a feeling of community.

Filed Under: BLOG Tagged With: belchertown, carpentry, college students, community, education, hands-on learning, hcc, holyoke, mentorship, perspective, plant-based diet, reflection, summer internship, youth

Tribute to Dave Kittredge

March 26, 2020 by MaJa Kietzke

Dave Kelly
Dave, right, instructs on an Eagle Eye Learn About Forests program in the early 90’s.

By Bill Labich, Eagle Eye Foundation Team

On March 13th, David Brayton Kittredge, Jr., a wonderful friend of Eagle Eye Institute and the youth he championed, passed away. We, and so many others who had the distinct pleasure to be and learn with him—countless students, faculty, and staff at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Harvard Forest, Coverts and Keystone Cooperators, landowners, foresters, and other citizens passionate about forests and conservation—will miss him dearly.   

A recent tribute to Dave from the Director of Harvard Forest, David R. Foster, recounts Dave’s impressive and seemingly endless professional contributions to the field of forestry through academic research, mentorship, authorship of state manuals on best practices, and his longstanding leadership of the forestry program at UMass where he taught classes in silviculture, human dimensions, timber harvesting, natural resource inventory, and land protection. 

Dave was pivotal to the growth and development of Eagle Eye Institute programs and the mission-driven work of several board members, which ripples out with myriad impacts. Dave was there at the very beginning of what would become Eagle Eye’s signature Learn About Forests™ program. Here’s how Eagle Eye co-founder MaJa Kietzke recounts it: 

Anthony and I took the Coverts Land Management course with Dave back in 1991, and one of their requests was to spread the message of land management and conservation, so we said we wanted to bring youth out to the forest. We asked David to be an instructor, and he said yes. A year later, we took him up on his commitment, and it was his idea to bring in a second instructor, so we could divide the group in two and have more one-on-one interaction. The second person he brought in was Anne Marie Loud, who later would become his wife. During David’s second year of working with us, he suggested we add in a stewardship component which was cutting small saplings and brush to release old apple trees for wildlife. The young people loved working together and learning how to use forestry tools – the stewardship component is now an essential part of our LAF (Learn About Forests) program. 

I’ve known Dave for over thirty years. Dave was an upbeat, down-to-earth, thoughtful, generous, and enthusiastic mentor, supporter, and colleague to whom I owe much in my professional life. I first met Dave at a Coverts Cooperator Training in Connecticut in 1989. I was 26, two years back from being an agroforestry extension agent in Haiti for the Peace Corps and working as a forester for CT Audubon and doubting my place in the field. He assured me that forestry was a broad enough field that could contain my particular interests. Later, I met Dave at the Eagle Eye Institute Learn About Forests™ Instructor Training in 1993. I remember being pleasantly surprised that he knew Anthony and MaJa and that he was equally excited about helping underserved urban youth of color discover their relationship to nature. Later, I got to work closely with Dave over the years helping his town planning board complete its master plan, as a fellow member of the Wildlands and Woodlands Initiative, and as a vocal supporter of the Regional Conservation Partnership Network, which I coordinate.

Dave was so supportive of Eagle Eye and collaborative conservation that I know in my heart he would be very pleased with our collaborative community conservation efforts with Kestrel Land Trust, Holyoke High School, and the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club.  

Please join me in extending Dave’s legacy, his passionate championship of young people’s connection to nature and conservation, by being even more involved in the Eagle Eye community, as we need it now more than ever. 

 

Filed Under: BLOG Tagged With: champion, conservation, dave kittredge, forestry, history, learn about forests, NRP, tribute, UMass, youth

Spring Plans with Rainbow Growers

March 11, 2014 by Susan Ekstrom

This spring EAGLE Club youth from Mystic Learning Center in Somerville will be growing vegetables for the second year in the Mystic Community Garden with funds received from Katie’s Krops. With assistance from Eagle Eye and Mystic Learning Center staff, youth between the ages of 7 and 13 will prepare, seed, nurture and harvest vegetables, and donate the food to people in need.

Last winter Eagle Eye approached EAGLE Club youth with an opportunity to receive funding from Katie’s Krops – an organization that assists others to start and maintain vegetable gardens and donate the harvest to help feed people in need. Two youth from the Mystic Learning Center EAGLE Club, Darien Rodriguez and Sabiha Miahjee stepped forward and worked together to plan their project and fill out the grant application. They chose to call themselves the “Rainbow Growers” and started their own blog to record their efforts.

Darien and Sabiha enlisted fellow EAGLE Club members, Mystic Learning Center youth and adults from the Mystic Housing Projects to refurbish two abandoned garden plots. Sabiha says “I taught the kids what plants were weeds and could be pulled. And that tomato plants don’t grow well when you put water directly on the leaves.” With hard work, dedication and love, youth harvested a total of 52 pounds of produce. Youth gave out each pound of food at the Mystic Mobile Farmer’s Market and kept track of the donations. More than 50 families from the community received vegetables! Sabiha and Darien received a Commendation from Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone for improving community food access in Somerville. 

This spring youth plan to make updates to the Mystic Community Garden greenhouse, use newly purchased tools to build additional raised beds and grow a larger variety of vegetables including collard greens, dinosaur kale, basil, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers. Darien and Sabiha look forward to involving more community members in the garden, donating more vegetables and keeping everyone updated on the Rainbow Growers blog. Darien exclaims, “Come check it out and help out!”

Click here to visit the Rainbow Growers blog

Click here to learn more about Katie’s Krops

Filed Under: BLOG Tagged With: donating food, gardening, urban gardening, youth

© 2020 Eagle Eye Institute. All Rights Reserved | (413) 655-0103 | 37 Curtin Rd, Peru, MA 01235 | Webspinner Midnightson Designs