Students from Aromas, San Juan Bautista and Hollister participated in a two-week camp this month focused on restoring the environment.
The approximately 30-student group—led by three teachers and about 10 high school student volunteers—spent last Monday morning planting milkweed and a Live Oak tree at the San Juan Soccer Fields in San Juan Bautista. It was one of many field trips they took to learn about topics such as native plants, recycling, sustainable agriculture and climate change.
“I am really excited about the education of our youth about environment issues because I feel that they really get it more than adults,” said Mary Hsia-Coron, a cofounder of the camp. “And because I think it’s their future that we’re talking about and I think they feel more urgency.”
Citing the high number of low-income individuals living in the area, Hsia-Coron highlighted the program’s affordability. Students qualifying for free school lunches paid $20, those qualifying for reduced price school lunches paid $30 and “regular folks” paid $40, she said.
“We decided to bring the costs down to basically what anyone could afford,” Hsia-Coron said.
The camp was run for about six years starting in 2000. But in 2006, the City of San Juan Bautista was not able to provide the group with insurance, Hsia-Coron explained.
About 10 years later, the city is sponsoring the camp again and provided facilities and insurance, she said.
San Benito Rising and the San Juan Bautista chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens are the other co-sponsors. Local businesses, individual donors and volunteers provided everything else.
