YCC combines work, education at park

This summer’s Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) program at the Tumac�¡cori National Historical Park hasn’t been limited to picking up trash and raking rocks. Instead, six teenagers have received work and educational experience.

Program supervisor Taylor Jones said the project has been bigger and better this year. Due to expanded outreach, there were more applicants than ever and a curriculum was created to make sure the students benefit more.

“In the past years, YCC was basically maintenance. This year that’s changed and it’s been more education for the students,” he said.

The curriculum that guides the students’ activities “is all new this summer. This year we (all the department heads) got together and wrote a curriculum where we intertwine education and work habits,” Jones said.

Participating students are Jesus De La Hoya, 15, Esteban Grijalva, 15, Daniel Medina, 16, and Lucero Pesqueira, 17, from Rio Rico High School. From Nogales High School are Maiya Block, 16, and Claudia Gonzalez, 17.

Grijalva likes the opportunity, he said. “I was surprised at how easily I got along with everyone. The work is sometimes challenging, but it’s fun. I found out how to build fences, how to properly use an ax, some safety stuff. I learned about how not to mix certain chemicals,” he said.

The outdoor work “is fun. It’s more of an experience. You see things you wouldn’t see in an office. You have to be willing to work, to like this job, and have an outgoing personality,” Grijalva said.

The teens work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the six-week program that began June 8 and ends July 17. Jones pointed out that for four of the six teens, “This is their first job, so that’s a big part of life. The interaction with visitors is the biggest thing for them.”

Trips to Saguaro National Park and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum expanded the teens’ understanding of parks, animals and habitats, he said. They also went to the June 23 grand opening of the improvements at the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant. Since the water is released into the Santa Cruz River, which flows past Tumac�¡cori National Historical Park, the students were especially interested in what they learned, Jones said.

What he finds notable about the teens is, “They’re willing to absorb anything, no matter what it is you show them or tell them. And they’re willing to take on whatever the job is, to dig a hole or preserve a national monument.”

This is Jones’ first year supervising the program. “We had 54 applications. Last year we only had three applicants and three workers. This year we went to high schools in Rio Rico, Nogales, Patagonia and Sahuarita. From what I understand, they’ve never seen that big a turnout for applications.”

Among the projects this summer, Jones said, was planting the “centennial tree, an Emory oak,” near the park entrance. They also learned how to preserve the ground level boundary of an old Jesuit church next to the mission church. “They’re doing a lot of fire management work in the back fields. They’ve done trail maintenance for equestrian use on the Anza Trial inside the park,” he said.

“They’ve done a lot of fence line work to keep cows out and people in. They’ve done litter control on the river and on the frontage road. They’ve done a lot of work with park employee Jeremy Moss in natural resources and are helping with water samples for E. coli,” a bacteria in water, he said.

Jones, a Sahuarita resident who grew up in Rio Rico and is a 2001 Rio Rico High School graduate, has a degree in environmental science with a minor in applied geology from Northern Arizona University. His job assignment is in the maintenance department but he has been able to work in each department at the park, he said.

The budget for YCC is $15,000 this year, said Lisa Carrico, park superintendent. She is pleased with Jones’ work as the supervisor. “He’s done an absolutely fantastic job. He’s a very talented young man and has a lot of personal initiative.”

The Tumac�¡cori National Historical Park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is a visitor’s center, a newly renovated museum, an enclosed courtyard garden, and the historic mission church that was built starting in 1800. Admission is $3 for those ages 16 and older. For information, call (520) 398-2341.

(Reach the writer at kathleenvan@msn.com.)