On Monday, July 1, 2019, Lori Rennie, President of JTREE, and David Smith, Superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park, signed a General Agreement marking the beginning of their partnership to establish a youth-oriented residential outdoor education campus in Joshua Tree National Park. This education program will complement the Park’s current K-12 day-use curriculum-based education program.
Through this environmental education partnership, JTNP will capture the imagination of students and encourage them to become the ecological stewards of tomorrow. These experiences will empower a diverse student body of young people to make a difference in society as well as build self-esteem, personal knowledge, and 21st-century skills such as communication, teamwork, and critical thinking. The residential education programming shall reflect the interdisciplinary nature of environmental education, and feature the interplay between science, technology, engineering, math, social and cultural sciences, and the humanities.
The education program shall be primarily established, funded, constructed and operated by JTREE, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. JTREE’s Board of Directors includes Lori Rennie, President; Mark Butler, Vice-President; Phil Spinelli, Treasurer; Paula Dashiell, Secretary; with Stephanie Dashiell, Mike Congdon, Katie Sandberg and Jim Spee serving as Members-at-Large.
