Scavenger Hunt - TEEN Meeting & Party

We had a great day this past Sunday planning our fall activites, eating candy, and then having out 1st annual Scavenger Hunt! The winning team recieved a dancing gopher trophy...what more could they want? The teams had to take photos of various activites in the Garden, such as playing ring around the rosie, wearing aprons and big hats, cartwheels in the bus loading zone as well as taking photos of certain plants in the Garden. It was a good day!

Planning a Park

Last weekend the TEENS were busy helping out with Teacher Open House and working on our Hassayampa Park Design. They spent 4 hours brainstorming ideas for the overall design and came up with some specific ideas for signage, discovery stations, and a possible observation deck for bird watching. They accomplished a lot and still managed to assist with those Teachers!

Day Trip to Hassayampa River Preserve!

The TEENs took their second trip to Wickenburg to finish the Hassayampa Nature Park plant survey last Saturday, September 29th. Well, it was a little hot, but we did just fine. We started early (but, still made time for a quick Krispy Creme stop), took lots of water, stayed in the shade and made sure that we were indoors by noon. We managed to take a few more plant samples, get more pictures, startle a beautiful owl, and this time we visited the Wickenburg Museum and the Hassayampa River Preserve. The Hassayampa, or "the river that flows upside down", runs underground with portions that seap above ground providing a beautiful habitat for more than 270 species of birds, mammals, and unique plant species such as, the Fremont Cottonwood and Goodding Willow, considered one of the rarest and most threatened forests in North America. It was a great day trip and now we are ready to use our information collected to start designing the actual park.

Hassayampa Nature Park - Wickenburg AZ

The DBG TEEN group has offered to help The Nature Conservancy plan and design their Community Nature Park on their newly aquired 33 acres. The TEENS started with conducting a plant survey, including all native and non-native plants. They are taking samples, putting them in a press, writing descriptions, plant names and taking location readings with a GPS. This will be done over two weekends. They will then brainstorm ideas for possible nature discovery stations, interpretive signage, and actually design the park with the hiking trails, horse trails, restrooms, and a entry kiosk. They are working hard on this project, so stay posted for updates and more detailed information soon.

Summer Fun!

Just a few fun photos of those crazy TEENs helping and (playing) at Eco Camp.

TEEN Recycling Center Trip

The DBG TEENS visited the Recycling Transfer Station in North Phoenix last month. We were not really sure as to what to expect, but I think that we were all surprised at what we saw, lots and lots of stuff! Stuff that would have gone to a landfill years ago but now that stuff is being recycled into new drinking bottles, faux lumber to make benches and picnic tables, new paper and paper products, etc. They actually dump everything onto fast moving conveyor belts and employees hand sort everything by hand....they were quite talented! Paper is the number one recycled material and over 300 tons of recycled items are sorted and packed up each day. We definitley saw community progress that day!

Field Trip! July 31st to the new Phoenix Recycling Center

All TEEN pilot memebers are invited to attend the field trip to the Phoenix Recycling Center next friday, July 31st from 9am until 1pm. This is a new facility and tours are only given during the week, so summer is our only chance to visit this center. I'm sure that this will be a great field trip and will increase our awareness of the importance of the three R's - Reduce, Recycle, & Reuse. Please let me know by July27th if you can attend.

Top 5 Best and Worst Moments of the TEEN's Summer Days Program!

These are the top 5 best...and WORST moments of the Summer Days program.

Best:
5.Getting to name the new snake...Hannah Montana!
4.Making and enjoying our homemade breakfast with farm fresh veggies and eggs.
3.Seeing Nancy in a life-size frog suit.
2.Finally getting to ride on an eletric cart to gather mesquite beans.
1. Alexander in his red, white, and blue plaid capris.


Worst:
5.Trying to catch one frog in the summer heat...for three hours.
4.Making crazy and cute snacks for the Eco-Campers.
3.Giving the TEENs big knives to cut watermelon.
2.Bri getting a quadrillion cactus spines stuck in her hands.
1.Saying good-bye on the very last day.


So that's the top 5 best, and worst moments the TEENs have had during this year's summer days program.
Thanks for making it so much fun!

-By Sydney(TEEN) and Susan (TEEN Coordinator)