Volunteer Opportunity – Celebrate Urban Birds at Blackstone.
Volunteers are needed to support the Blackstone Community Center youth summer program, Celebrate Urban Birds.
The children will participate in outdoor data collection of bird observations, data entry to the Celebrate Urban Birds website, a data activity (e.g drawing histograms), and an art station. This event is part of Celebrate Urban Birds, a Cornell Lab of Ornithology program using bird watching as a jumping-off point to introduce kids in low-income communities to science and conservation. Supported by a mini-grant from Celebrate Urban Birds, and run by Amparo “Chary” Ortiz, financial administrator for the biostatistics department and a member of the board of directors for the Blackstone Community Center (BCC) and Anita DeStefano, Professor of Biostatistics, this year’s event will take place on Tuesday, July 17 from 1:00pm-4:00pm at the BCC.
“It’s about more than birds,” Ortiz says. “It’s important for our children to be aware of their surroundings, that they are mindful of the environment they live in.”
“This event provides a very hands-on and engaging STEM activity,” DeStefano added. “Hopefully we can build on this single event and eventually lead some of these children to continue in the path as scientist, statistician, or naturalist.”
Those interested in volunteering should contact Chary directly. Don’t worry, prior bird knowledge is not required!