Tending to nature

Photo courtesy of the Urban Ecology Center

Urban Ecology Center offers career training to area students
​By Ryan Amundson
Sr. Director of Communications

Life has come full circle for Olivia Raasch.

Ten years ago, as a Milwaukee high school student, she was participating in the Urban Ecology Center’s Outdoor Leaders program.

​Now, she’s leading it as the non-profit’s Green Career Pathways Manager.

“These connections and communities are so important,” said Raasch. “The genuine care and mentorship and being able to see these pathways. It’s not just one pathway, which I think is really cool.”

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Twenty-five high school students from area schools - public, private and charter - are selected to participate in the Outdoor Leaders program annually in two cohorts – one is an eight-week summer program for 18 students, and the other is an eight-month program for students during the school year. This opportunity is just one part of the Green Career Pathway program that starts for children as young as kindergarten. 

Participants in the Outdoor Leader program are exposed to different aspects of the Urban Ecology Center, from the environmental science angle, where students can conduct community science research and delve into land management, to more traditional non-profit organizational training in areas like community engagement, marketing and fundraising. 

“We want to expose them to a variety of different career options,” said Raasch.

The non-profit partners with the city of Milwaukee as part of its Earn & Learn program, making it a paid internship for participants.  

The program has placements in three locations across the city – the newly renovated campus at Washington Park, Riverside Park and the Menomonee Valley. It is open to all students, but many reside in the neighborhoods near the locations said Jen Hense, president and executive director of the Urban Ecology Center. 

“Ideally, it’s kids who live, work and play in our three neighborhoods,” she said. “They have that connection. It’s great when they start building ownership of that green space and feel like they belong there.”  

Hense said the program not only provides a connection to the city but gives them a reason to come back to it when they’re looking to start a career.

For many, the experience has sparked an interest in an environmental science career. Raasch, now in her fourth year at the Urban Ecology Center, has had a chance to see an entire cohort move through the program. She said there are some who’ve moved on to study environmental science in college, others have gone on to study urban planning.

Raasch said it’s nice to see students going into environmental science after taking part, but even those who don’t will take something away from the experience. 

“A lot of our focus is on the green career element,” she said. “While that is a goal and a key component, a bigger piece is that connection and building some generational care for nature.”  

This week marks Earth Week. For all of the activities hosted by the Urban Ecology Center, click here.