Transcribed by Ariana Thornton
Read an exclusive interview with Jacob Stowe, Youth Programs Coordinator at Mobilize Green as he talks about upcoming programs, his experience with climate change activism, and advice for interested high schoolers. Scroll down for links and more information for how to sign up for the programs this summer.
Q: Tell me about yourself. Who are you? What do you do?
Right now, I’m a Youth Programs Coordinator here at Mobilize Green. For those who don’t know Mobilize Green, we have our hands in various things, but we run two separate sectors. One that I’m [most] responsible for is the Youth Programs. That’s reaching high schoolers and placing them in internships all over the country. Specifically, we have our main program in Philadelphia and then a couple other residential programs that bounce around to different sites.
I spend most of my time recruiting and on logistics behind those programs, whether that is planning activities or working with US Forest Service and also US Fish and Wildlife. So working with them on work projects, whatever the students might be doing, and even enrichment like environmental education–focusing on whether that might be careers within the green sector and trying to at least open high schoolers’ eyes to these opportunities.
I do a little bit of everything. Right around August, I came into this role, and things are really starting to amp up in terms of programs and stuff like that. Our social media game is something that we are trying to work on and I’ve expressed this. Even though I’m not that young, I bring the “guys, we gotta step this up.” Cause nobody’s looking at their email right now. They’re on Instagram and Facebook. So yeah, really trying to work on that.
Q: Why do you do Youth Programming? Why do you feel that it’s important?
Speaking for Mobilize Green, the word our CEO uses a lot is “pipeline.” So somebody in high school who has never really been exposed to anything [about the environment], they might not have any idea what is out there. There are real opportunities to make money, to make a difference, and so on.
On a company level, we really think that, “Hey, if we can start a high schooler early in this kind of thing and get them passionate about this, we then have our programs which act as internships and then lead to, who knows, a full-time job with the Forest Service or whatever it may be.
On a personal level, I see no better way to spend my time–just getting high schoolers excited about this. I was somebody who had access to nature growing up, and even then, I never saw a career in it. I was always just like, “I love being in it, but you don’t make money for doing this kind of thing.” And I want students to be like, “this is actually something that we can make money doing, and we can make a difference on this planet doing.” Because, ultimately, that’s the goal.
Q: How did you get started in this field?
I was living in Philadelphia right before COVID, like February of 2020. I had applied for a Crew Leader position with Mobilize Green and that Crew Leader position was going to be in Philadelphia at John Heinz Refuge, which is still something that we participate with pretty heavily. But as you would’ve guessed, COVID kind of ruined all that. Luckily, Mobilize Green was pretty quick on their feet and they were like, “actually, we’re gonna run a virtual program.” Long story short, I was a teacher for that program in 2020, and [when] it came back in 2021, they let me know. So it was a seasonal position and I worked in a school for the time being. Then summertime came around and I kind of got back into [the] full swing of things and helped with recruiting and some other stuff, transitioning to the Youth Programs Coordinator. It’s been more linear than some of my other career paths.
Q: What have past programs looked like? What has the impact been?
Before my time, unfortunately, I didn’t have too much exposure to our actual residential programs and things of that nature. They did exist and they’ve been run. I know we had some really successful ones in West Virginia and we had a program in Superior National Forest. I’ve only heard good things and seen good pictures, but I can’t speak on that too much.
With the virtual program as a whole, I kind of had my doubts. I was sort of like, “it doesn’t seem like kids who are really interested in the environment will want to sit on a computer.” But over the course of two summers, I really saw the impact it had on at least some students. Not only were students being paid to learn–getting a stipend each week to come and learn about different environmental topics–but it really did seem to push some into positions where they’re like, “oh, I can have an impact on my own community.” And that was the biggest to me because both summers we really focused on a service project–or at least that was a component of the program. It just ended up working out really well where some had super cool projects that I just was blown away by. Others were whatever, but they realized that they could have this difference and could mobilize their community, friends, and whoever else to bring awareness to topics that they cared about.
I remember a student specifically dealing with flooding in Louisiana, and I live in Asheville, North Carolina, [where] there’s no flooding. I’m not dealing with something like that, but I deal with the other things that happen in this area. So seeing students home in on these specific community-driven problems and then trying to figure out solutions to those problems was just super cool to see.
Speaking in terms of like numbers, we were able to reach quite a bit of students. I think over this year we reached about 120. Then in the 2020 season, we had about 60. We kind of doubled the program. I just thought that was an awesome way to get students involved and get them excited about working with the environment.
Q: What programs are coming up? (https://www.mobilizegreen.org/job-board)
We have two different residential Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) Programs. Then we have two different Urban Conservation Corps (UCC) Programs, very similar. The biggest difference is that YCC is residential, meaning that as a high schooler, you would stay overnight and spend about three weeks working and living in a certain place, wherever that is. With the UCC though, it’s more of a daily commute.
I’ll kind of dive into our UCC real quick, that is our Philadelphia program. We run that at John Heinz Refuge every year. Funny enough, that’s actually a spring, summer, and fall program. We just got out of the fall, just starting out the spring. I think it’s the beginning of March. We’re also looking for applicants for the summer program, which is more of a full time Monday through Friday thing. Each of those [are] individual in their own ways, depending on the location.
The other place that we are running a UCC– a much more scaled-down version–is Patuxent Research Refuge, Maryland. That program is a little smaller. I think it’s only gonna be two crew leaders and maybe six students, whereas the Philly one will have 20 students and probably three crew leaders.
They do all sorts of stuff. A lot of them, specifically Philly, partner with different community gardens and get to do work at community centers all over the city. Last year they did a pollinator project where they built a pollinating garden, got to do things like invasive species removal, whether that’s you know, working with super invasive fish, various plants, things of that nature. It’s really cool. Of course, with both programs, there is environmental education scattered about. Each day those students will maybe do a half work day of hands-on type of stuff. Then they’ll come back and we’ll get to do a lesson with them. Most of it is catered to what the crew finds interesting. I think they’re super awesome programs.
I’m really excited about the YCC. We have two different programs going on this summer. One is in Superior National Forest, so we’re partnering with them again. That’ll be 20 youths from all around the country, and we’ll probably have about four crew leaders in that area. We have some housing, so it’s not camping. It’s nothing like what we kind of have done in the past, because of COVID, but we actually have some bunk houses out there and we have this cool place called Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, so that’s where the housing is.
Students would stay there overnight, and then during the day they’ll travel out into the Superior National Forest, do a lot of work. It’s usually four days of work a week. Then we have Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to do fun, relaxing stuff, whatever it may be. There’ll probably be some canoeing activities out there. There’s a lot of lakes in that area, so we’ll do some swimming activities, stuff like that.
We have a second program running in a place called Lander, Wyoming. Lander is kind of at the foothills of the Tetons, about two hours from Yellowstone. It’s absolutely beautiful out there. We’re running two separate cohorts this year, but with a similar setup to what I was just saying about Superior. There’ll be 20 students in each of those cohorts and eight crew leaders across the board. We’re partnering with the Shoshone National Forest. Housing is gonna be at a place called the Alpine Institute which is a branch of Central Wyoming College. I think it’ll be a really exciting opportunity. We’re actively trying to get as many applications as we can right now, because this all came together pretty quick. But the work projects are already in place, housing’s pretty much in place. Students obviously get paid to come out there, but then we’ll also pay for travel.
We are also running a virtual program this summer, which I don’t have the exact dates on yet because it’s still coming together. That one’s easier to put together, as you could imagine. That one will be an opportunity for students who [think that] maybe getting away for three weeks is a little too much. We’ll allow that as well, and it’ll be an internship opportunity type of deal. Hopefully we intertwine some community service in that and whatever else students are looking for.
Q: What should make high school students want to participate?
Jacob:
That’s a great question. It depends on your interest and all of that good stuff. But to me, the sell is like, “you can get paid.” Which I think is always a plus; that’s helpful. But then you can have an experience that I promise you would never have anywhere else. You’re gonna get paid to do that, and then it does look good on a resume.
I can promise you’ll learn and appreciate things that you probably wouldn’t have otherwise, whether that is careers within the green sector and just opening your eyes. It’s not all just doing trail work or getting [your] hands dirty. There are engineers, there’s so much STEM work. I really think, as a high school [student], it’s something that can just open your eyes to a new kind of view that maybe you haven’t seen.
There are a lot of programs you can look [at] like AmeriCorps. But the pay can be tough and sometimes they’re unpaid internships. We’re proud that at Mobilize Green, we try to remove barriers for students, pay them a wage that seems fair, and allow them to have some spending money–because why not? I think that’s the sell.
Q: Are you going to be at any of the programs, or are you just coordinating?
I’ll be at both of those programs to at least start them off and do some of the trainings. I wish I could be at Shoshone even more, because [even though] Superior is gonna be really amazing, I’ve been up in that area. I’ve never been to Shoshone, Wyoming, and it just seems really cool. I’ll probably end up spending more time than I need to out there. I’m really excited about that.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I’ve mentioned that we do something called Resource Assistant Programs (RAP). They’re not for high schoolers, they’re for college and graduate students, but they’re such cool programs. They’re partners with the US Forest Service and they’ll place you pretty much anywhere in the country, including places like Alaska. Some of them might be 30 weeks, some might be 52 weeks, so it could end up being almost a year-long internship. They’re such amazing opportunities for students. They’ll pay you very fair wages, a monthly living stipend, and even health insurance. Anybody who participates in one of our YCC programs is a top priority for us when it comes to a RAP position later on. We really try to prioritize Mobilized Green alumni. I think that’s important to mention, but if anybody’s curious, they can just simply Google the US Forest Service Resource Assistant positions and can learn a lot more about those.
Q: What is your advice for people who are interested in doing something like this?
One piece of advice that I always have is to be willing to take a chance, even if it seems kind of scary. I know that sounds cliché, but sometimes the things that you take a chance on end up having the biggest impacts in your life. I had certain moments where I was like, “I can’t do that.” Then I end up doing it and it turns into something that I can’t imagine my life without.
If you’re seriously interested, be honest with your answers, your application. We really do read these. We’re not somebody who’s just going through names and whatever. We truly go through them and genuinely try to pick the students who want to do this right.
You don’t have to be a Boy Scout your whole life or do this and that. We really try to attract students who traditionally haven’t had access to the outdoors–and that’s okay. That’s a big part of this: being able to be vulnerable and be like, “Hey, I’m going to take a chance and I’m going to go for something that maybe I won’t love. Maybe I will, I don’t know.” You won’t know until you go for it. Maybe that’s a little corny advice, but that is definitely my advice. Too often, we live in a world that says “you gotta be safe and conservative,” and it’s like, no, sometimes you just gotta take chances. If you’re smart about it, you’ll make your way.
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