Urban Rangers: The Leads Tell All
ELK’s Urban Ranger program is a youth employment opportunity that provides extensive educational and professional development experiences to unencouraged and underrepresented youth from the Denver Metropolitan Area. Through training administered by our partners at the National Parks Service (NPS) and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) as well as full-time ELK staff, the Urban Ranger crew members become educational facilitators and ambassadors for all three organizations throughout their communities. The Urban Rangers use hands-on experiences to teach diverse youth in their communities about how they can explore, learn about, and protect our natural world. Read more about Urban Rangers here.
The 2024 Urban Ranger cohort is starting the summer strong! Urban Ranger Leads Nadia Brooks and Jesús Terrazas share about their involvement with ELK and their plans for the summer below:
How long have you been involved with ELK? What made you stay involved?
Nadia: I have been in ELK since I was in diapers. I wanted to stay because it was my main outlet into the outdoors. Eventually, I had fallen out of ELK for a few years until I saw Amy (ELK’s former Education Director) by chance. She had recognized me instantly, despite not seeing me for years. At that moment, I knew that ELK was a community I wanted to stay in.
Jesús: I’ve been a part of Environmental Learning for Kids for about seven or eight years, and what made me stay is the amount of time the community is given to spend in the outdoors. I just overall love being outside and being out where there’s no noise. I’ve personally seen the Milky Way thanks to ELK. This was during the Great Sand Dunes trip not too long ago.
Tell us about your past experience as an Urban Ranger.
Nadia: Every year has been a different adventure. In the beginning, I had no idea what I wanted to be in life. Yet my exposure to careers in natural fields, the pride of working hard on a service project, and the absolute joy of a kid being amazed by stories is what led me to want to pursue environmental science. The Urban Ranger position is incredibly varied. I find myself thriving at the teaching and family oriented side, yet pulling back and learning to lean on my team for the more manual side. Either way, it’s an interesting experience.
Jesús: I grew up in Montbello and lived there for about 13 years, and ever since my older sister signed up for ELK, she has really shown me a path that I want to follow. She slowly climbed the ranks to ELK. She was an Urban Ranger, which really encouraged me to follow her footsteps, then as I’ve seen more family members become Urban Rangers and Urban Ranger Leads, I knew this was something I really wanted to do. This past year when I was employed as an Urban Ranger, I had so much fun with the crew I was working with. They made being outdoors even more fun. We all just got along so well and never left each other alone. We would all hang out together as a group, and there would never be someone left out. We all cared about each other like family.
Nadia, what is your favorite part about being an Urban Ranger Lead?
Nadia: My favorite part of being a Lead is learning all of the strengths and ambitions of the team and how to place them where they shine, while also encouraging us to explore new skills and settings. I also enjoy growing as a leader and becoming someone that can hopefully be depended on.
Jesús, what part of being an Urban Ranger Lead are you most looking forward to during your first summer in this position?
Jesús: What I am looking forward to the most as an Urban Ranger Lead is being able to see how much influence I have on the group and how much I can bring us all together by the end of the summer. Like I said, in the past, it felt like we were just one big family that loved to be around each other, and I hope to get that same experience with this new crew. I’m really just excited to see how much we grow and all of the cool things we will get to do together as a team and family.
What are some of the plans for the 2024 Urban Ranger cohort? How do you feel about those plans?
Jesús: Some of the plans for this summer as an Urban Ranger are to do a lot of service projects like doing some work up in Cal-Wood and doing some fishing clinics, but, overall, what I’m really looking forward to is the pack rafting trip we are doing at the end of the summer. I think this trip will be the one where we can really look back and see how much progress we have made through the summer.
Nadia: This year is leaning heavily into the professional development and service project side of Urban Rangers. This will give us the skills, knowledge, and connections to enter professional environmental work along with advantageous experience for any field we may want to go into. Since I am now in college, and internships have a heavier weight, the professional development, such as the Project WILD and WFA (Wilderness First Aid) trainings, has given me a leg up when it comes to hiring. Yet I wish there were more family/educational days since that is my favorite part of Urban Rangers.
What makes this group of Rangers unique?
Nadia: The main difference is that the college requirement for a lead was removed. I think this was a positive change and I think Jesus was an excellent choice as a lead. Overall, there is an excited aura around the group. There is a kind of fun and earnest enjoyment wherever we go. This makes even the most mundane tasks a little silly. I find myself smiling a lot when I’m at work. I look forward to getting to know the group more over the summer!
Jesús: What makes this group of Rangers unique is that we have nicknames for each other. Some are not yet developed, but, soon enough, we will all have appropriate nicknames, and it will probably be able to bring us more together than last year; we will just have to wait to find out.
Is there anything else you want to share?
Nadia: While being a Lead can be daunting, and I never quite know if I’m really helping, the Rangers and ELK staff have been there to support and encourage me to keep trying. I’m grateful for all their help and friendship.
Jesús: This summer, we have a lot to look forward to, and we have a lot to learn, so I just hope to make a lot of memories with this crew and be able to share what I’ve learned to those around me and just be a stronger person mentally and physically. By the end of the summer, I hope the rangers can say the same thing and we all discover something about us and nature that we didn’t know.
About Environmental Learning for Kids: Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) is a local nonprofit that creates a sense of belonging, self-discovery, and adventure in the outdoors for underrepresented young people of color and their families, transforming youth into environmental stewards and trailblazers that promote equitable outdoor access, sustainable practices, and community uplift. Learn more at elkkkids.org.
About the Author: Lauren Keller is ELK’s Events & Marketing Coordinator. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida but has done meaningful work in Colorado since graduating from Colorado College with a BA in Environmental Studies in 2021. Lauren is passionate about harnessing visual media to share the wonder of the natural world with everyone. She is currently pursuing an MA in Biology with a focus on conservation communications. In her free time, you can find Lauren reading, playing games, cooking new foods, or searching for wild animals to photograph.
