The Missouri Botanical Garden’s Outdoor Youth Corps, or OYC, is a paid education and workforce development program. It aims to expose youth to outdoor career paths in areas like conservation, horticulture, sustainability, and community engagement.
Hundreds of young people have participated in the program. Nora Jennings, a past participant and intern, shared the following first-hand account.
First day jitters
Hesitantly, ten young people peeked into their new classroom. It was the first day of the Outdoor Youth Corps Summer Crew program. Most participants didn’t know what to expect.
As the intern, I was waiting there to greet them. As a multi-time OYC participant, I knew how nerve-racking the first day could be. I also knew that even though the first day could be intimidating, OYC helped me explore my interests and abilities. I hoped to help other participants to do the same.
OYC focuses on developing the crew members’ skills in its four pillars: conservation, horticulture, sustainability, and community engagement to explore green career paths. To do this, OYC participates in community stewardship projects, classroom lessons, and professional development in the greater St. Louis area.
However, going into OYC, many participants weren’t entirely sure what to expect. They didn’t know what they were going to be doing or who they’d be working with. They looked at the people around them with varying levels of knowledge, and waited to get started.
Getting started
Near the beginning of the orientation week, the participants learned how to identify different kinds of plants. They explored ways to interpret various types of bark, branches, and leaves in a way that made sense to them.
After they learned about plant ID in their classroom, they went to Tower Grove Park to identify trees in-person. Participants opened up to each other. They asked questions and gained new insights. Afterwards, they were eager to share with each other the different kinds of trees they identified. They showed off the leaves and other characteristics they used to determine the plant species.
As Liz Byrde, a Therapeutic Horticulturist at the Garden, puts it, when you are, “able to recognize plants and their names, then you can look at a green place like the side of the highway and see the biodiversity and multiple species within.”
By having the participants learn this skill, they were able to further deepen their relationship with nature. OYC is deeply connected to the natural world, due to our focus on both conservation and horticulture. It’s very important that the participants develop a connection to the natural spaces that they’re helping to improve. Identifying plants, “is like looking at a group of people,” Byrde explained.
“When you can recognize friends in the group you would feel differently than if you saw a bunch of blank, unrecognizable faces.”
Therapeutic Horticulturist Liz Byrde on Plant ID
Building Connections
Byrde is one of the many connections OYC made during the Summer Crew program. She led a program called “Nature Mandalas.” Participants created mandalas out of the natural elements they found around them while on the Garden campus. This included various leaves, small pinecones, and even cicada shells. Many participants chose to work together to bring their shared vision to light. The end results were beautiful, temporary works of art and a strong sense of camaraderie and understanding among the participants.
A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols.
Their camaraderie showed in their collective efforts during various community stewardship projects. OYC went to numerous sites around the greater St. Louis area this summer, including the Sunflower+ Project. The Sunflower+ Project turned a vacant lot into a welcoming space for the community and wildlife through growing bright sunflowers. OYC worked together to weed around the benches, completing the task in under an hour! Afterward, they focused on mowing the border around the sunflowers and touching up the paintings at the site. By working together, the participants beautified the space while enjoying the sunflowers.
Green Teen Alliance
Participants also connected with other teens interested in the environment through the St. Louis Green Teen Alliance (GTA). The GTA hosted a Basecamp event at the Nature Playscape in Forest Park. At Basecamp, they interacted with other teens in the area employed with similar programs and have similar interests. OYC jumped right in. They began interacting and talking to other crews. This included the Flight Crew of Audubon Center at Riverlands and Canopy Crew of Forest ReLeaf.
Each member of the GTA has a spark inside them that guides them towards the outdoors and the natural world… I saw moments that confirmed to me that the participants all have that spark and will carry that spark forward with them throughout their lives.”
Jessie Frank, an Outdoor Education Specialist and a leader in GTA
By the numbers
This spark was overwhelmingly clear by the end of the season. OYC has a track record for improving participants’ connection to nature.
In 2023, 65% of OYC crew members reported gaining new knowledge about nature and the environment during OYC. In addition, 61% of OYC Crew members reported an increase in comfort and enjoyment spending time outdoors after OYC.
This was also shown in their final presentations at the end of the 2024 Summer Crew program. Participants created presentations related to OYC, with projects ranging from a video montage to insect identification. Two of the ten participants were inspired by the nature mandalas made with Liz Byrde. This highlights how deeply they valued that experience connecting with the natural world around them.
Curtain Call
The most striking thing to me was the close bonds that were made during the Summer Crew season. At the end-of season celebration event, participants proudly presented their final projects. Families, friends, fellow OYC members, Garden staff, and community partners took the time to attend and show support.
Many of the projects showed off the participants’ connection to one another. For example, one participant picked a Missouri native species that best matched their fellow participants and leadership staff. Another had a PowerPoint slide dedicated to fun facts about all the participants and the leadership team.
I saw the crew members, who at first seemed shy about the program and people around them, cheer on their fellow participants and interact with the community partners, family, friends and Garden staff who attended the event. The nerves of the first day seemed to be overwhelmingly replaced with a new sense of confidence and belonging. We hope everyone can gain inside and outside of the natural world.
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