Jamie Searles - An Awesome ENC Junior Naturalist Gives Back

Jamison "Jamie" Searles began visiting the Environmental Nature Center (ENC) as a camper when she was in elementary school. Those fond memories and experiences made a huge impact on her.  Now, as a high schooler, Jamie has been an ENC Junior Naturalist for more than three years.  She donates her time to help further the ENC's mission of providing quality education through hands-on experience with nature.

Jamie recently completed another community service project, which she named "Fantastic Plastic," involving the recycling of used plastic bottles.

Over a period of three months, Jamie collected and recycled various used plastic bottles from friends, neighbors, and fellow students. She used the proceeds from that recycling to benefit her mission of serving the community. Most recently, she reached out to the ENC to assist with the purchasing of supplies for our Summer Nature Camp Program.

Through Jamie's "Fantastic Plastic" program, she was able to raise enough money to purchase 6 new musical instruments, 12 safety-scissors, 4 preschool nature books, 12 boxes of triangle-crayons and a fun ladybug play tent!  Jamie has also made contributions to other organizations: the donation of a check to The Red Cross, the purchasing of school supplies for Girls Inc., the purchasing of turkeys on Thanksgiving for the Soup Kitchen, and the purchasing of backpacks for students at the Mapalo Village School in Zambia.

The ENC would like to thank and congratulate Jamie on her tremendous contributions to the community. It is due to efforts like these that the ENC will continue to provide quality education through hands-on experience with nature for many years to come.