What does it mean to live sustainably? How do we protect our natural resources? Oxnard educators will help youth understand sustainability concepts this summer.

Rio School District in Oxnard conducts a district-wide summer camp for their K-6^th grade students. This year, the district is partnering with the Hansen REC education team and will deliver the 4-H Sustainable You! Summer Camp curriculum to sixth grade campers. The goals of the camp are to help youth develop respect for their natural environment and learn what they can do each and every day to lessen their impact on the environment and conserve resources. To help enthusiastic teachers prepare, the HAREC team held a Sustainable You! Train-the-Trainer last week. The hands-on training covered the concepts and fun activities for the five sustainability themes: land, air, food, energy, and water.

HAREC educators created activity kits for each sustainability theme. These kits will be on loan to teachers to support implementation of the program at a Rio school site. As an added bonus, over sixty campers will experience “food day” at the Center. Students will explore Ventura County agriculture and as well as harvest, prepare, and sample farm fresh fruits and vegetables.