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The John Muir Youth Award program was launched in Dunbar, Scotland in April, 1996 by the John Muir Trust of the United Kingdom. Dunbar was chosen to launch the program because it was the birthplace of John Muir. Thirty-eight students satisfied the award criteria and were the first recipients of the award.
The Sierra Club, through its volunteer John Muir Education Committee, operates the John Muir Youth Award in the U.S.A. Interested schools, nature centers, youth camps, or individuals are welcome to participate! The first John Muir Youth Award recipients in the USA were 19 students from the John Muir School in Portage, Wisconsin, located near Muir's boyhood home, and was awarded in June, 1997.
There is no cost to you or the students, although you may wish to make sure your local library has an adequate supply of books and videotapes about John Muir! (We provide an online annotated bibliography of children's and adult books, audio tapes, and videos featuring John Muir on the John Muir Exhibit on the Web, or you can order books from the Bookstore at the John Muir National Historic Site.)
The criteria for students at the Discovery Level is a five step process described below.
We work in partnership with organizations as "Award Providers." To become an Award Provider, fill out and submit the Interest Form. Award providers deliver the John Muir Youth Award so that it benefits their organization and to ensure that participants' efforts fulfil the Criteria of the John Muir Youth Award. Individuals age 13 or older may also participate through our Self Guided Assessment form.
Every student successfully concluding the criteria for the award, as approved by a teacher or youth group leader and by the Sierra Club, will be sent (in care of the adult teacher or youth leader) a colorful certificate recognizing their accomplishment from the Sierra Club (see sample at top of page).
The John Muir Youth Award aims to encourage people to not just learn about, but to become involved in conservation and the protection of wilderness and biological diversity. It accomplishes this aim through a five-step discovery process to explore, enjoy, study and celebrate wild landscapes and wildlife.
The John Muir Award aims to increase awareness of John Muir as a pioneer of world conservation and to present him as a heroic role-model for children and adults. Muir can be a springboard to a whole world of knowledge about Nature.
The Award is designed to be inclusive rather than exclusive. It is thus:
Non-competitive: children achieve at their own ability and interest level
Open and welcoming to all: regardless of age, sex, race, class or ability
Progressively challenging: requiring a greater commitment at successive levels
Uses the "Heart, Head, Hand" model: Projects undertaken for the John Muir Youth Award should engage the Heart, the Head, and the Hand:
The Award reflects John Muir's lifelong work in Education, Recreation and Conservation. If people are to fully develop and fulfill their physical, intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic potential, Muir believed that:
People Must Discover and Explore Wild Places for themselves:
Muir preached that direct experience of wildness - of unspoiled Nature is not a luxury but a necessity - for physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.
People Should Explore Nature Directly at first-hand:
Although Muir was a great reader, Muir believed people should "read and learn directly from the great Book of Nature," rather than just from other people's talking or writing.
People Take Personal Responsibility for Conservation:
Muir believed that it was not enough just to gain knowledge or to "be concerned;" people must accept direct, personal responsibility to "do something for wild places"
There are three progressively challenging levels: Discovery, Explorer, and Conserver.
Can be undertaken as a group or class project. Requires a minimum of 15 hours effort over a 3 month period.
Aimed at individuals but they can work as a team. Requires a minimum of 30 hours effort over 6 months.
Aimed at individuals but they can work as a team. Requires a minimum of 60 hours effort over a year.
At each successive level of the Award the same five challenges are repeated, namely:
Working under the guidance of a youth leader, teacher, park ranger or wildlife expert:
Following Muir's maxim that "wildness is found everywhere" a "Wild Place" could be any relatively natural area from the back-yard garden, to the local park or a nature reserve. Young children may well start close to home and progress to more adventurous and remote sites as their knowledge and abilities grow. Older children will want to find true wilderness nearby.
At each level participants must explore, study, and try to understand: Why do we call this place "wild"? What is "wildness"? Why it is valuable? This may take the form of a conventional environmental studies program - but students could explore the landscape, animals and plants through science, photography, poetry, or other arts. It should be diverse and creative.
The Sierra Club believes -- like John Muir did -- that it is not enough to "be concerned" - people must take action. For this third phase, young people will carry out practical conservation and management; or campaign on behalf of a wild place; or raise funds; or work with the local community on long-term management.
Sharing with others could be done by making an exhibition of photographs, paintings, drawings or words; producing a film, video-tape or slide-show; creating a drama or radio program; leading a guided nature walk; giving a talk, etc.
His Scottish origins; his boyhood experiences; his emigration to the U.S.A. His growing up on a Wisconsin farm; his early love of Nature. His explorations, travels, great climbs and adventures etc. His great battles and achievements for Conservation. His world fame and importance.
The John Muir Youth Award program was formulated in the United Kingdom by the John Muir Trust. The Sierra Club has a small-scale test of the program in the United States. To participate in the John Muir Youth Award program, please submit an Interest Form.
Before you begin, we suggest you review our set of Wilderness Teaching Resources.
Important note: Retrospective activity cannot count towards an Award.
Over a period of 3 months, contribute a minimum of 15 hours to this project.
A 'Wild Place' can be any relatively natural area (ie. an area primarily governed by natural processes rather than by human operations), such as a back-yard wildlife habitat, a stream side park, a local nature reserve, a National Park or wildlife refuge, or a high mountain forest or a Pacific coral reef.
You must physically explore and travel extensively, by walking, camping, canoeing, or just sitting and observing. Study and develop your understanding of what makes the area wild, how wild things (plants, animals, insects, birds, people) depend on each other in this place. The MEDIUM of exploration can be physical, geographic, scientific, artistic etc, but should engage all the senses.
Topics might include:
Why do we call this place 'wild'? What elements of landscape are wild?
What animals, plants, and people live here? Why do we value this place's wildness? How is this place threatened or sustained? What did John Muir think about 'wildness' and how does that relate to this place?
Take some personal responsibility for the conservation and protection of a wild place. This should take the form of some practical action that will leave it in better shape. This might involve research, campaigning, political action, or fundraising; pollution cleanups; planting trees, shrubs or wildflowers, or clearing invasive plants. Make your effort something with lasting value. For example, it usually isn't enough just to clean up litter. If litter is a problem, then students should start with a litter survey/analysis, organize community support for not only removing the litter on a one-time basis but on an ongoing basis, and establish some system for ensuring that the place doesn't get cluttered again.
Students may tell people about their own experiences, share their knowledge, thoughts and feelings. Students should communicate their personal feelings, experiences and knowledge gained while interacting with the Wild Place to a wider group of people: school, church, family and friends, local newspaper; your local community etc.
Carry out all of the first four challenges against the background of learning about John Muir: his childhood in Scotland, his adult years in America, his world-wide adventures and explorations, his struggles to help create the Sierra Club and the National Parks system, his many books and essays on conservation.
By the end of the project, students should be able to answer all of the following questions:
To sign up for the John Muir Youth Award program, before commencing your project you will need to submit one of the following at least two weeks in advance:
Contact Information
Harold Wood
Sierra Club John Muir Education Committee
John Muir Education Project
P.O. Box 3543
Visalia, CA 93278
E-mail: harold.wood@sierraclub.org
John Muir Educational Resources