Rock Island, Ill. -- (Sept. 26, 2011) The media is invited to join the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, the Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy, as she visits the Mississippi River Visitor Center, Wednesday, Sept. 28, to help celebrate America’s Great Outdoors with sixty 4th-grade students from Denkmann Elementary School, Rock Island, Ill.
The event provides students the opportunity to be involved in a variety of hands-on educational opportunities and have fun in the great outdoors. President Barack Obama launched the America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) Initiative to develop a 21st Century conservation and recreation agenda. Americans across the nation made it clear that they want to reconnect – or connect for the first time – with the great outdoors.
During this half-day outdoor education and awareness event, six stations will provide students the opportunity to interact on environmental and recreational issues with members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and the Nahant Preserve, Education & Recreation Area. Students will receive a backpack filled with items needed at each station and a field guide that will be stamped after each activity has been completed. Both the backpacks and field guides, provided through donations by Walmart and the Quad City Conservation Alliance, are for the students to keep.
The event takes place from 9:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., on the front lawn of the Mississippi River Visitor Center, located on the Western tip of Rock Island Arsenal. Tents will be set up in the event of inclement weather.
Agenda:
9:15 a.m. - Students arrive at Mississippi River Visitor Center - Orientation
9:30 - 11:30 a.m. - Students rotate every 25 minutes to stations
11:30 a.m. – Noon - Lunch under the tent
Noon – 1 p.m. - Rotation continues
1 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. - Wrap up and cake celebrating America’s Great Outdoors
On the Web @ http://americasgreatoutdoors.gov/
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NOTE: This event is not open to the public.
Release no. 11-09-35