Center for Conservation Leadership
The Center for Conservation Leadership (CCL) is committed to developing and empowering the next generation of conservation leaders to understand the importance of human interaction with the environment and to take responsibility for its care and preservation.
CCL invites highly motivated middle and high school youth to participate in a collaborative in-depth and flexible certification program which fosters future environmental leaders by combining environmental education, leadership training and community service.
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CCL targets 13 – 15 year old students from diverse backgrounds with a keen interest in the environment and a passion for the outdoors. Students engage in a year long certificate program comprised of:
- A three-week residential summer program focusing on a major environmental issue that includes field trips to northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
- 5 –7 field trips, workshops and guest speakers during the school year designed to supplement the summer experience and reinforce the social relationships formed during the summer.
- Mentored community service projects with partner organizations.
CCL awards a certificate recognizing conservation leadership to students who successfully complete the summer program, participate in a service project, and attend the school year workshops. This certificate acknowledges achievement and entitles students to use the Center for Conservation Leadership in subsequent years as a resource for expanded environmental education opportunities and mentored internships.
Students participating in CCL and its programs begin to shape their passion with a practical understanding of environmental issues and are prepared to contribute to our world as life long conservation leaders.
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Summer 2010
June 14—July 2, 2010
Aquatic Ecology
For three weeks during the early summer, students explore water as a major environmental issue. Using the greater Midwest as a laboratory, students investigate the pristine lakes of northern Wisconsin and Michigan to understand the connectivity of this important watershed. Travelling throughout the region, students learn in the field and in labs alongside teachers, researchers, and environmentalists. Midwest lakes and great lakes, rivers, wetlands and waterways are explored as they canoe, kayak, hike, and wade through this vast system.
From Elawa Farm in Lake Forest, Illinois, students in CCL travel together by van to the Conserve School in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin stopping along the way to visit the Aldo Leopold site and International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
The CCL team learns to work together with rock climbing and high ropes courses in the area to develop leadership skills. Arriving in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, the Conserve School becomes home for much of the next two weeks. Students learn about aquatic ecology using the eight lakes on this beautiful property as a field lab. From Conserve, the group takes extensive field trips to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior to work on a research vessel studying the health of this great lake.
While learning about the importance of our watershed and its connection to our lives and the future, students investigate issues in environmental justice, sustainability and human sociology.
Students return to Elawa Farm on July 2 knowledgeable and renewed and ready to step up as the conservation leaders for the next generation.
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School Year 2010-2011
Workshops, Field Trips and Guest Speakers
During the 2010-2011 school year, seven workshops, field trips or guest speakers will be presented to the students. Students may attend all seven but must attend at least five of their choosing in order to complete the certificate program. These gatherings bring together the summer group and enrich their summer experience by exposing them to a variety of current conservation leaders and experts who are working in the environmental field. Some examples of possible field trips and workshops are:
- A canoe trip on the Chicago River to understand the importance and health of this urban waterway.
- A session with a “green” architect and tour of a state of the art office complex which utilizes green technology throughout.
- A mock court trial debate on environmental justice.
- Exploration of the Chicago Wetlands restoration areas.
- A session with an organic chef to understand our food sources and discuss sustainability issues.
- Finding a voice for the environment through the media.
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As CCL believes that future conservation leaders must come from different experiences and that students need to be ambassadors in their own communities first, CCL participants are asked to perform a community service project between completion of the summer program and gaining their certificate. Students may design their own service project in conjunction with CCL staff or may participate with local partners to work on appropriate stewardship projects. Examples are:
- Translating interpretive materials and maps into Spanish for greater accessibility;
- Friends of the Chicago River’s Riverwatch program;
- Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach program;
- Lake County Forest Preserve’s land restoration projects;
- The Wetlands Initiative’s invasive carp control;
- Participating in the Chicago Zoological Society’s Global Youth Symposium.
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Upon successful completion of the first year – summer program, school year workshops and service - students are awarded a Certificate of Conservation Leadership. The certificate entitles students to participate in more advanced summer experiences through CCL exploring global opportunities and environmental issues in depth. This leads to individual mentoring. Mentors advise students in their area of interest and recommend and place students in summer internships in a variety of environmental organizations. These experiences are facilitated by CCL in collaboration with its partner organization.
Space in the Center for Conservation Leadership is limited to 20 students between the ages of 13 to 15. The application is for the three-week summer program and the school year workshops and field trips. The program is tuition based. Full scholarships and financial aid are available. For more information, please email
shoffmann@lfola.org.
To apply, students may download the application from our website or contact CCL at 847.482.1928 x23. In some cases, applications are available through the school science coordinator. Students must have a sponsoring teacher, school administrator, youth or church group leader. Two letters of recommendation must accompany the application. One must be from the sponsor and the other should be from a person other than a parent familiar with the student’s work and interest in environmental studies.
Applications are considered complete when the following materials are received:
Applications are due by April 1, 2010. Once applications are received, students will be contacted for an interview. Accepted students will be notified no later than April 5, 2010.
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