Lucas Gambone has participated in Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC)’s Cairn Program for high school students for all four of his high school years. For his last year, this year, he has stepped into being a youth intern with VOC. Throughout this internship, Lucas has stepped into more leadership roles in implementing the Cairn Program for other student participants, rather than just joining our monthly activities. He has suggested new ideas to get students engaged during our monthly events and has led activities to create more community building opportunities throughout the program. Lucas’ involvement in our program has now led him to pursue environmental education as a career path as he attends Western Colorado University this upcoming Fall.

Lucas has fulfilled several leadership roles throughout our program in varying audiences and topics, all while only being a high schooler. He has led many icebreaker activities with our own Cairn Program participants to encourage community building and camaraderie. He has educated students from other youth programs on the Leave No Trace principles during the annual Youth Exploring Stewardship Conference at Cal-Wood Education Center. He even participated in a pollinator monitoring training workshop in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to lead adult volunteers in citizen science activities. I believe he has even earned his Wilderness First Responder training through school, proving his commitment to not only educating in the outdoors but keeping everyone safe as well. 

Lucas has an inclusive mindset and interacts with students from any background or identity. His passion for environmental education has also led to close friends and family wanting to join our program. His enthusiastic attitude will carry him far in developing his future career in environmental education. His countless volunteer hours while being engaged in our program has resulted in various achievements while giving back to Colorado’s natural resources and community, including trail work, urban gardening, wildlife restoration, and much more. His time as an intern with us will also contribute to planning how we can engage committed students from our program in the future and give them more leadership experience. Having Lucas in these leadership roles throughout the program can inspire other students to step up and become a leader in environmental education as well.
 

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