Jen Rubbo, Director of the Environmental Cooperative, received a new grant from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to support Vassar’s Exploring Science program and create summer jobs for local youth.

For more than 40 years, Exploring Science has been teaching elementary school students about nature in the Hudson Valley. Partnering with the City of Poughkeepsie and local youth organizations, Exploring Science offers programming during the academic year, after school, and in the summer months. Through a combination of classroom visits, nature-based games, field trips to the Preserve, hikes, and outdoor science-based activities, young participants gain an appreciation for nature and learn alongside Vassar undergraduates and program leaders how to “think like a scientist.”

With funding from this new OCFS grant, Exploring Science will also provide summer job opportunities for local youth, ages 18–21, to work alongside Vassar undergraduate students and staff to implement Exploring Science. These youth interns will gain new skills and experiences that will increase their career readiness; improve their learning in the natural sciences; and “unplug” and work outside in the Preserve, one of Poughkeepsie’s most vital and accessible natural resources.