The Junior Ranger program developed as an initiative to provide students from Odyssey High School in South Boston with summer employment opportunities in the world of parks. The Junior Rangers worked full-time for six weeks developing interpretive programs, leading “tours for teens”, and assisting with weekly public events and programs in the Boston Harbor Islands national park area. The program curriculum integrated the weekly themes of the park’s family fun day events, focusing on renewable energy, cultural awareness, wildlife sciences, orienteering, and the military use of the islands.
Civic Engagement tours provided Junior Rangers with the experience of interacting with State Legislators and approximately 300 constituents on each trip, leading children’s activities onboard the vessel and extending those activities on-island with guided youth tours. Their work experience was reflected via journal writing and weekly writing assignments interpreting the work of renowned environmentalists and scientists such as Henry David Thoreau, E.O. Wilson and John Muir.
