YESC Eco-Career Exploration Next Week!

Hey gang,

Join YESC for a ground-breaking week of career exploration in the environmental field! YESC will meet with professionals in different environmental careers to learn about their jobs, education, and extracurricular activities that qualified them for their position. The goal is for our YESC members to learn about different environmental careers they can pursue and what it takes to prepare for those career paths. Below is the schedule for the week:
 

Monday: We will spend the morning at UMLY preparing for the week, and the afternoon will be spent with Land Studies as we are invited to help with the UMLY Property Management Plan.
 
Tuesday: The certified arborists of Shriner Tree Care will be taking YESC on a project in the Cassatt Preserve at UMLY as we help take down a tree. Hard hats included!
 
Wednesday: YESC will get a backstage tour of the Ornithology Department at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA to observe rare wildlife specimens! We will even have some special guests meeting us there!
 
Thursday: The Refuge Manager of John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia, PA will give us a private tour of both the refuge and the Cusano Environmental Education Center!
 
Friday:  YESC will meet with the Natural Resource Manager of the Brandywine Conservancy for a tour of the beautiful Waterloo Mills Preserve to learn how he manages the preserve. We will spend the afternoon at UMLY. 



Please join us by registering at the Welcome Center ASAP! This is a program unlike anything we've ever done with YESC and will be an incredible experience to prepare you to enter the environmental field!




- BQ

Congrats to Dani Smith!

Hey gang,

As some of you may know, Dani Smith has had a real banner year with YESC this year! Between her victory as captain of the World Series of Birding team and receiving the Trevor Conlow Award, she has had an incredibly rewarding year! In addition to these two accolades, Dani has been recognized by other organizations because of her involvement with YESC.

On April 18th, Dani was one of the recipients of the Front Porch Trust Scholarship award. She was recognized by the Front Porch Trust Board of Trustees for her volunteer efforts throughout her time in YESC. 

 Dani with her fellow winners and PA State Representative Duane Milne

 Great Valley High School Guidance Counselor Jeff Martin, Dani, and BQ

Dani reading her essay to the attendees of the scholarship banquet

In addition to her scholarship award, the latest issue of Great Valley High School's "Surveyor" features Dani as she describes the World Series of Birding. Check out the article here:

In addition to her accomplishments in YESC, Dani and Ben Bussmann are both completing the second year of a summer internship with the Ornithology Department at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA. Through this internship, they are taking their interest in birding to the next level as they complete this once in a lifetime opportunity! For those who will be joining us on Eco-Career Exploration, we will be spending a day with Dani and Ben at the Academy as they and their mentor, Dr. Nate Rice, give us a behind the scenes tour of the Ornithology Department.

Needless to say, we are all very proud of Dani and her accomplishments during her time here at YESC. She truly exemplifies the qualities of a Trevor Conlow Award winner!

- BQ

YESC Awards Banquet & BBQ

This evening, YESC hosted the 2nd annual end-of-year Awards Banquet and BBQ for participants and their families. Please see the video and photos of the event and award winners below.

Video presentation of the "Trevor Conlow Award" recipients and members of the YESC Hall of Fame, including this year's 2012 recipient.

 Families enjoying the BBQ dinner and social time.

 BQ meeting and greeting with families.

Jeff Scott, Environmental Education Director (left), chats at the podium with Brian Raicich, Team Leader for Youth Development, and Brian "BQ" Quindlen, YESC Coordinator. 

 A slide from the opening presentation about the YESC program.

 Lindsay Hennessey, Camp UMLY Assistant Director, presents the Youth & Government program, a branch of YESC.

 Naiya McClay, recipient of the "Amish Weapon Award - Ivory Bill Female" recognizing the middle school female student with the greatest number of service hours of the past year. 

 Yusuf Romaine-Elkhadri, recipient of the "Amish Weapon Award - Ivory Bill Male" recognizing the middle school male student with the greatest number of service hours of the past year. 

 Rita Concannon, received the "Amish Weapon Award - Apgars Moose Female" recognizing the high school female student with the greatest number of service hours of the past year. Accepting on her behalf was Jacob Haag.

 Ben Bussmann, recipient of the "Amish Weapon Award - Apgars Moose Male" recognizing the high school male student with the greatest number of service hours of the past year. 

Danielle Smith, the 2012 "Trevor Conlow Award" recipient and newest member of the YESC Hall of Fame, with Brian Raicich (left) and BQ (right).

YESC End of the Year Family BBQ & Alumni Service Project!

YESC End of the Year Family BBQ

Saturday, June 2nd - 4pm - 7pm

This weekend, we will honor the hard-work and dedication of our YESC participants at the 2nd annual YESC End of the Year Family BBQ. At the event, YESC will present its highest honor, the Trevor Conlow Lifetime Achievement in YESC Award. In addition, we will recognize the highest number of service hours given by both a middle school and high school boy and girl between June 2011 to May 2012 through the presentation of the Amish Weapon Award.


In anticipation of the debut of Saturday's 2011 - 2012 video, check out last year's YESC 2010 - 2011 video recap:


The event will run from 4pm - 7pm in the Johnson Room, and you MUST RSVP via the Evite event sent to your email address. Please follow the invitation's instructions on what to bring!

YESC Alumni Day Service Project

Sunday, June 3rd - 10am - 2pm

This Sunday, YESC will embark on one of its largest service projects of all time! YESC will hold its first-ever Alumni Day Service Project from 10am - 2pm.  Close to 800 native wildflowers and grasses have arrived for YESC and Alumni to plant in our meadow restoration project this Sunday. Over the next two years, YESC will plant over 3,000 plants in this area to create habitat for pollinators and birds in UMLY's Cassatt Preserve.

Work along YESC Alumni and staff as we begin the first step of this incredible project. Please bring a hand shovel or trowel, lunch, water bottle, and sunscreen. We also recommend a hat and work gloves to help with the project.

All of us here at UMLY are incredibly excited over this weekend's festivities. Please make every effort to attend and lend a hand!

- BQ

News Coverage of UMLY's Win!

UMLY's Youth Birding teams in the news: T-E Patch

A Celebration 10 Years In The Making

On Saturday, May 12, Upper Main Line Y's high school birding team, the B.B. Kingfishers, crossed the World Series of Birding finish line just before midnight as winners of their division and the "Pete Dunne Future Leaders in Birding Award".

The team, lead by captain Danielle Smith, Ben Bussmann, and Nathaniel Sharp, tallied 173 species with their 24-hour full state run, birding north to south throughout New Jersey. The win capped a celebration of ten years of participation by the Upper Main Line YMCA in New Jersey Audubon Society's World Series of Birding. This was the first win by an UMLY high school team in the very competitive high school division. UMLY's high school teams had finished in 2nd place the previous two years. The high school team joins four UMLY middle school teams that have won over the last ten years (2004, 2006, 2007, 2011).

UMLY B.B. Kingfishers, 2012 High School Champions.

From left to right: Mike Mostello (YESC staff), Nathaniel Sharp, Danielle Smith, Ben Bussmann, Shanna Babiak (YESC staff), Brian Raicich (Team Leader of Youth Development).

Danielle Smith, team captain, addresses the awards banquet with Eric Stiles, New Jersey Audubon Society's President and CEO.

The 173 species tallied was 7th overall when placed with the adult teams. For Danielle Smith, a graduating senior from Great Valley High School, this was her final World Series of Birding as a youth participant. Smith has participated on UMLY's youth birding teams since 7th grade. Joined by Ben Bussmann, a junior at Conestoga High School, and Nathaniel Sharp, a sophomore at Strath Haven High School, the team has a combined 17 years of World Series of Birding experience.

UMLY's middle school team, Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Brant!, finished with 135 species for 5th in the middle school division. Captain Austin Smith was joined by Tyler DiAndrea, Liam Gallagher, and Yusuf Romaine-Elkhadri.

UMLY's 2012 Youth Birding Teams

"One of the best highlights was a Screech Owl, in the Lake Ocquittunk area (Stokes State Forest, Sussex County), leaning out of a tree cavity in the daylight. That was awesome." Danielle Smith shared at the awards banquet. She also thanked UMLY's Environmental Education Center, the team's drivers and Y Earth Service Corps staff Mike Mostello and Shanna Babiak, and Marleen Murgitroyde and Sheila Lego of New Jersey Audubon Society and organizers of the World Series event. But the biggest thank you went out to Brian "BQ" Quindlen, UMLY's Earth Service Corps Coordinator and mentor for the birding teams. Quindlen was unable to join the teams at the World Series due to an academic conflict - his graduation from Temple University's College of Education.

Quindlen participated as a student in the World Series from 2003-2006 with UMLY and now leads the birding program with Y Earth Service Corps. He leads weekly classes, starting back in January, to teach UMLY's youth teams to identify over 200 birds by sight and sound in preparation for the World Series. In May 2002, BQ and I walked into the Cape May Bird Observatory asking how UMLY could participate in the World Series of Birding. The next year we had our first two teams competing on the Big Day and the rest is history.

This program provides leadership development opportunities for students while working within a team structure. They learn about the importance of land conservation, within New Jersey and throughout the Philadelphia region, that provides vital habitat for birds and wildlife. The World Series of Birding places them right in these wild areas to see and hear first hand the great diversity of bird life these parks, forests, and preserves support. Connecting kids with nature to develop an appreciation of the natural world is a goal of youth development at Upper Main Line YMCA. I am very proud of the accomplishments of this year's students and all previous participants that have made the last ten years of this youth birding program at UMLY such a success. Congratulations to all!

Brian Raicich

Team Leader of Youth Development

Upper Main Line YMCA

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Brants!

Enjoying some warblers in Belleplain State Forest in preparation for the World Series of Birding!