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Camp Cooper: Environmental Learning Experiences for Undergraduates 2.0

Camp Cooper: Environmental Learning Experiences for Undergraduates 2.0
Grant Type
Annual Grant
Project Status
Active
Award Period
FY2026
Awarded Amount
$16,600
Award Period (2)
FY2027
Awarded Amount (2)
$16,600

Project Description

The Cooper Center for Environmental Learning (Cooper Center) is an outreach project of the College of Education, focused on educating and inspiring people of all ages to live more lightly on the Earth through campus outreach, community events, professional development for current and future educators, and research.   
 
This project builds upon the first year of funding The Cooper Center seeks to engage University of Arizona undergraduate students directly in ways that will inspire them to act more sustainably and to share their personal knowledge and experience with the children of Southern Arizona. With the support from the Campus Sustainability Fund, Cooper Center will re-establish two student worker positions. These students will have the opportunity to work closely with Cooper Center’s full-time educators to learn their field trip programs and engage with children from Southern Arizona schools such as Tucson Unified School District. These students will then take on leadership roles in the activities done at the Cooper Center, with assistance from their full-time staff members. Cooper Center’s Pre-K-12 programs combine key ecological understandings with immersive experiences that foster a love of the Sonoran Desert for each child that are age-appropriate and student-centered.   

Throughout their position of 30 weeks, each student worker will share their experiences at Camp Cooper to highlight their work on campus with students, faculty, staff, and in the broader community. The goal for this project is to pilot these experiences and highlight these positions for new donors in the future to have student workers annually. 

Project Outcomes

Camp Cooper hosted two undergrad interns as Camp Cooper Environmental Educators from August 2025 through May 2026, providing career-affirming opportunities that also expanded Camp Cooper’s operational capacity. During the 2025-2026 season, Cooper Center served more than 4,000 students; a milestone made possible in large part by the interns' ability to take on leadership roles in both on-site and off-site programming. 

Interns were instrumental in improving the accessibility trail at Camp Cooper. They dedicated several days to paving sections of the trail to make it wheelchair accessible, resulting in a significant improvement in the center’s ability to deliver inclusive programming. Trail improvements also included the creation of new shaded gathering spaces. The accessible trail will continue to serve learners and the work they invested ensures that all learners have the opportunity to connect with the Sonoran Desert in an equitable and impactful way. 
 
Offsite, the interns contributed to classroom visits at schools throughout the community, helping Camp Cooper’s expand its reach and connect more students with meaningful environmental education experiences. Each intern saw over 2,500 PreK-8th grade students from August to May, assisting with classroom management and leading programs.  

Both interns increased the visibility of the center’s impact through Cooper’s own social media and newsletters, while also increasing reach to the local community through publications in the Catalina Foothills magazine, including articles on desert topics that can be read here: Bird Migration in the Sonoran Desert, The Dangers of Rodenticides, and Mule Deer in the Desert.  

Lyndale, reflected on her internship experience: 

‘It was an opportunity that gave me so much room for growth... My experience at Cooper was nothing I could get from a college classroom and has given me the utmost confidence in my ability to pursue my future career." 

A group of students talking around a picnic table.

Department
Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies

Project Manager
Colin Waite

Project Manager (secondary)
Mariah Kuehl

Categories
Social Sustainability
Sustainability Literacy

Supporting Documents
Approved Budget
Final Budget