A small environmental learning center west of Tucson that has been raising money following state funding cuts has gotten a big boost from the head of TUSD.
Superintendent H.T. Sanchez said last week that he will donate his performance bonus of $12,600 to The Cooper Center for Environmental Learning.
The facility, more commonly known as Camp Cooper, has been using social media to raise money to not have to reduce the number of visits from schoolchildren.
The donation from Sanchez gets the camp closer to its summer fundraising goal of $20,000.
Camp Cooper has been a part of Tucson since 1964, serving over 130,000 people in its 51-year history. It gives children an opportunity to explore the Sonoran Desert, providing them with hands-on learning in ecological concepts.
“Most of the kids that we work with at the camp don’t get a chance to experience nature in a positive way,” said Colin Waite, its director. “When they step out of the school bus, they might as well be explorers on an alien planet.”
In previous years, the center relied on the Tucson Unified School District and the University of Arizona’s College of Education for all of its funding needs. But they expected to be short for the next fiscal year because of budget cuts that affect the district as well as the University of Arizona.
“It means we can’t be running at full capacity,” Waite said of the funding shortfall. “Field trips and overnight stays are very staff-intensive, which means instead of seeing 4,000 students a year, we might be seeing only 2,000 or 3,000.”
Waite looked to the community for support, raising some $60,000 toward their goal of $100,000 prior to Sanchez’s donation.
Many in the community have been vocal in their support for Camp Cooper.
“There’s nothing quite like it,” said Bruce Johnson, the department head in Teaching, Learning, and Socialcultural Studies at UA. “We have a lot of issues these days with the environment and we need people to understand how these natural systems work.”
Johnson said Camp Cooper is valuable for children, researchers who use the facility and future teachers.
“It’s an experience you can’t have anywhere else,” said Jenn Spohn, a teacher at TUSD’s Lineweaver Elementary School, 461 S. Bryant Ave., who has taken her students to Camp Cooper for the last 10 years.
“It opens up the students’ minds to think more globally and start to think about how they affect the rest of the world,” Spohn said.
She said Camp Cooper visits often inspired students.
“Some of them started their own recycling,” Spohn said. “And when they see a student throw their granola bar wrapper on the ground, they’ll pick it up or tell them ‘you can’t do that. You have to throw it away.’”
Janine Malkin, who also teaches at Lineweaver, says Camp Cooper is more than just an environment-learning program.
“It’s an experience you can’t replicate,” Malkin said. “The kids here are building memories and community. They have to help cook and clean after themselves, which also teaches them responsibility.”
Malkin, is a Camp Cooper alumna, having visited it when in the sixth grade.
“I was here before the cabins and fancy trails,” she said.
Reconnecting with Tucsonans like Malkin who have experienced Camp Cooper is a big priority in the fundraising campaign.
“I can go into any room in town and say Camp Cooper, and there will be someone who remembers being in the cabins and sitting around the campfire,” Waite said.
“It’s those personal memories that I want to translate to funding for the future.”
