Long time Audubon Center at Debs Park volunteer Patty Cortes has been recognized by the Highland Park Ebell Club for her efforts to make her community a better place. Currently a senior in high school, Patty will be attending Humboldt State University in the fall, studying ecology.  She will be the first person in her family to attend college. The Ebell Club awarded her a scholarship that will support her work at the university. Patty became involved with Audubon through the Arroyo Green Team. This program engages local teens in environmental education, ecological restoration, scientific research and volunteer projects.

The Arroyo Green Team is sponsored, in part, by a grant from Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds Initiative, which seeks to inspire the next generation to be innovative thinkers who are rooted in science, technology, engineering, and math. Through her involvement with the Green Team, Patty has helped create acres of restored native habitat, engaged young children from her community in educational programs, banded birds for scientific study, and installed bird nesting boxes for rare species. She has also visited Tejon Ranch and our own Starr Ranch Sanctuary in Orange County. All of these activities led to a passion for ecology that drove her to succeed in school.

Audubon thanks the work of Patty and the support of the Highland Park Ebell Club and Time Warner Cable.