Guest post by Marisela Alvarez

Education and Engagement Manager, Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary 

On Friday, May 16th the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary celebrated their first ever Audubon Youth Leaders graduating. The elegant event took place in the Lyford House in honor of our six Youth Leaders Kacie Cox, Richard Serrano Diaz, Mario Antonio Duran, Kyle Joseph Martin, Rosa Mendoza, and Marshay Aujanique Walker --all of whom are graduating seniors attending public high schools in Marin County.

This first Audubon Youth Leaders served an important role in helping to shape the program and advise on what they felt should and shouldn’t be included in upcoming years. For their completion of the 5-month internship celebration, the Youth Leaders chose to serve both Italian and El Salvadoran food to their guests of family and close friends. They showcased their experience of the internship with a short video they created to share at the event.

The mission of Audubon Youth Leaders is for young people from different parts of Marin would work together to explore ecological issues, develop increased leadership abilities, improve interpersonal and career skills, and complete a team conservation action project. At the graduation celebration event the youth emphasized how they learned that they could make a difference in the world, gained better communication skills, and in their video highlighted that they “defy the stereotypes.” Youth Leaders helped restore wetlands at Bahia Marsh in Novato, along with the Marin Audubon Society, together with the Center’s Restoration Ecologist participated in a long-term science project on Aramburu Island to make the site a healthier place for migrating birds.

We are looking forward to facilitating the next group of Youth Leaders to develop their leadership and complete a conservation action for birds and their habitats.