Sierra Nevada Journeys is proud to be a sponsor of the Family Estate Planning Series. Seven classes taught by local estate planning professionals on topics such as wills, probate, trusts, power of attorney, health care directives and more are offered free to the public. Classes begin March 29.
For more information or to register, contact Karen Senger, Development Director, at 775-355-1688, and she'll send your information to the Community Foundation of Western Nevada.
Join thousands of Nevadans in supporting your favorite nonprofit organization on Thursday, March 23 for the 6th annual Nevada’s Big Give. Nevada’s Big Give is a statewide 24-hour online giving initiative to raise awareness of, and funds for, all nonprofits and schools that improve the quality of life for Nevadans.
The concept of Nevada’s Big Give was developed and initiated by NevadaGIVES board member, Stacey Wedding, a lifelong Nevadan who has committed her professional life and much of her personal life to the philanthropy sector. Wedding presented the concept to the NevadaGIVES board in early 2011. Soon after, Nevada was celebrating the first ever Nevada’s Big Give. In just the first year, online donations totaled $413,048 from 2,063 generous individuals throughout our great state. Fast forward to 2016. Nevada raised over $638,000 from 5,567 individuals. That’s a 35 percent increase in funding in five years. These numbers show that Nevadans have big hearts when it comes to giving.
So far, there are 33 Northern Nevada nonprofit organizations that you can help support on Nevada’s Big Give – including Sierra Nevada Journeys, Note-Able Music Therapy Services, Immunize Nevada, Reno Philharmonic Association, Nevada Humane Society, Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, and United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra, to name a few. Some organizations have even partnered with each other to double their impact in the community.
For example, Sierra Nevada Journeys is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada for the second year to send 20 Littles to Sierra Nevada Journeys’ Summer Camp at Grizzly Creek Ranch in Portola, Calif. Summer camp immerses children in outdoor learning, teamwork and leadership, promoting achievement well past the campfire. To send 20 Littles to summer camp, Sierra Nevada Journeys has set a fundraising goal of $11,980. Donations will be matched up to $3,000 by a generous donor.
Note-Able Music Therapy Services is seeking $5,000 to provide weekly music therapy at The Eddy House, helping engage at-risk youth with music. Music has shown to be a powerful way for people to express difficult emotions, while experiencing the joy of expression and creating art.
The Reno Philharmonic Association wants to offer a free children’s concert at Wingfield Park, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, to Artown this July. This event will help introduce children in our community to classical music in an engaging setting. In order to bring the performance to Reno, the Reno Philharmonic Association needs to raise $7,500.
These three examples are just a glimpse of what organizations are fundraising for during this year’s Big Give.
Seek out your favorite nonprofit organizations or learn about new ones that match your passions, be it education, arts and culture, children and family, or the environment. Visit www.nvbiggive.org and make Nevada’s Big Give even bigger in Northern Nevada by participating and donating on March 23.
- Written by Megan Duggan, Marketing and Communications Director for Sierra Nevada Journeys
Reno, NV – Jan. 12, 2017 — NV Energy recently awarded Sierra Nevada Journeys a $10,000 grant to support their Classrooms Unleashed program. Through this grant, 324 northern Nevada elementary students will have access to effective, high-quality science instruction during the 2016-17 school year.
"Sierra Nevada Journeys is proud to have the support of the NV Energy Foundation,” said Karen Senger, director of development for Sierra Nevada Journeys. “Their partnership is helping to build a community of youth who are leaders, scientists and stewards of the natural world.”
Students in grades first through sixth will receive three hands-on classroom-based lessons and one field-study experience to help increase their understanding of science standards and their interest in STEM subjects.
Classrooms Unleashed uses hands-on, experiential outdoor education as a framework for children to study, think and learn. The program is aligned to state and national standards and the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence.
Nevada currently ranks 44th in the nation on the Science and Engineering Readiness Index. With support from partners like NV Energy, Sierra Nevada Journeys aims to improve these low scores and works diligently to ensure that all students have access to high quality science education.
Reno, NV – Jan. 9, 2017 — PPG Industries recently awarded Sierra Nevada Journeys a $10,000 grant to support their Classrooms Unleashed program. Through this grant, Sierra Nevada Journeys will deliver Classrooms Unleashed to 324 northern Nevada students in second through fifth grade during the 2016-17 school year.
"Sierra Nevada Journeys is proud to have the support of PPG Industries,” said Karen Senger, director of development for Sierra Nevada Journeys. “We applaud their commitment to enriching children’s live through outdoor science education.”
Students will receive three hands-on classroom-based lessons and one field-study experience to help increase their understanding of science standards and their interest in STEM subjects.
Classrooms Unleashed uses hands-on, experiential outdoor education as a framework for children to study, think and learn. The program is aligned to state and national standards and the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence.
Sierra Nevada Journeys is dedicated to improving Nevada’s below average science education ranking (44 out of 50) by bringing science to children and supporting the educators who teach them. In 2015, 90 percent of students attending our Classrooms Unleashed programming demonstrated improved understanding of science standards based on assessment data.
Portola, CA (Dec. 14, 2016) — The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), America’s largest wildlife conservation and education organization, is pleased to recognize that Sierra Nevada Journeys’ campus at Grizzly Creek Ranch in Portola, CA has successfully created a Certified Wildlife Habitat® through its Garden for Wildlife program. NWF celebrates the efforts of Sierra Nevada Journeys to create a garden space that improves habitat for birds, butterflies, frogs and other wildlife by providing essential elements needed by all wildlife – natural food sources, clean water, cover and places to raise young. Certification also makes your Certified Wildlife Habitat® part of the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, a national effort to restore critical habitat for pollinators.
“We are so excited to have another passionate wildlife gardener join us and create a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Over the last 40 years, nearly 200,000 wildlife gardeners have joined NWF’s Garden for Wildlife movement and helped restore wildlife habitat right in their own yards and neighborhoods,” said Dave Mizejewski, naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation. “Whether you garden in a suburban yard, an apartment balcony or a 10-acre farm, a schoolyard or a business park, or anything in between, everyone can create a home for local wildlife. Turning your space into a Certified Wildlife Habitat is fun, easy and makes a big difference for neighborhood wildlife,” he added.
“We have a terrific campus and work to preserve and enhance the wildlife whose home we share,” said Mark Owen, campus executive director of Grizzly Creek Ranch.
Sierra Nevada Journeys’ 1,500-acre campus at Grizzly Creek Ranch is home to many plants and animals. To name a few, a black bear, bobcats, whooping crane, osprey, bald eagles, rainbow trout, leopard frogs, hawks, a multitude of song birds and water fowl such as coots, mallards, blue heron and grebes. The campus is vegetated primarily by Jefferson or yellow pine trees as well as incense-cedars and sugar pines. The forest floor blossoms yellow and blue with mullein, mule’s ear and lupine.
Sierra Nevada Journeys takes particular care to conserve and preserve this habitat for visiting youth. “The objective for them is to see nature and its inhabitants in their original, pristine condition,” said Owen. “Through observation, youth are then introduced to scientific principles and methods to transform what they see, smell and touch into ways to understand, communicate and engage with the world around them.”
NWF’s Garden for Wildlife program encourages responsible gardening that helps pollinators and other wildlife thrive. It encourages planting with native species like milkweed and discouraging chemical pesticide use. With nearly 200,000 locations and growing, NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitats and Community Wildlife Habitats recognize individuals, schools, groups and whole communities committed to providing habitat for wildlife, including pollinators. Each of the nearly 200,000 certified locations provide food, water, cover and places to raise young. This makes yards, schools, businesses, places of worship, campuses, parks, farms and other community-based landscapes into wildlife sanctuaries. For more information on gardening for wildlife and details on how an entire community can become certified, visit www.nwf.org/habitat or call 1-800-822-9919.
Sierra Nevada Journeys was ecstatic when one of its generous and committed funding partners, the Sandra A. Daugherty Foundation, was named the 2016 Outstanding Foundation by the Sierra Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals at its Cornerstone Awards & Philanthropy Day luncheon on Friday, Nov. 11.
The Outstanding Foundation award recognizes a foundation with an established track record of charitable contributions in the community, one that promotes innovation and sound management practices in the nonprofit sector, and is a true community partner.
Since 2001, the Daugherty Foundation has been tirelessly committed to improving science, technology, engineering and math - or STEM - education and supporting excellence in the teaching of science and medicine. In line with their mission, the Foundation has initiated and funded numerous innovative pilot programs in our area.
The Daugherty Science Internship is a partnership between the University of Nevada, Reno’s College of Education, the College of Science and the nominating group, Sierra Nevada Journeys. This internship program provides high-quality, deep science education and scientific research practicum to six University of Nevada, Reno student teachers annually.
The Foundation also began a state-of-the-art STEM and Art (or STEAM) Program with the Nevada Museum of Art and Sierra Nevada Journeys.
The Daugherty Summer Science Experience program exposes middle school students from low socio-economic backgrounds to science and scientists. Participants spend a week on the University of Nevada, Reno campus with College of Science faculty and graduate students. The program also serves as professional development for Washoe County school teachers as they accompany the students during the week-long program.
Also recognized at the event was Christina Hale, volunteer field educator with Sierra Nevada Journeys. Christina was named a Spirit of Giving honoree for her enthusiastic dedication to providing science education to children.
Sierra Nevada Journeys’ volunteer, Marlys Pryor, was one of the prestigious finalists honored at the 2016 Governor’s Points of Light Award Ceremony in September at Bally’s Las Vegas.
Marlys was one of only three finalists in the Northern Nevada Individual Volunteer category. Sierra Nevada Journeys nominated Marlys because of her passion for sharing science with children as a volunteer field educator. As a retired aerospace engineer, Marlys knows first-hand the importance and fulfillment of science, technology, engineering and math and the exciting work that comes along with those fields.
In her video recorded for the ceremony presentation, Marlys said, “I start with the kids. What are you interested in?” If a child is interested in music, for example, she explains you have to be good at math to be a good musician. She is committed to getting as many children as possible interested in science-related fields.
On Nov. 1, 2016, Sierra Nevada Journeys was awarded nonprofit organization of the year during the Golden Pinecone Awards hosted by GREENevada. Dave Stockman, one of our long-time trustees and financial partners, welcomed Eaton Dunkelberger, our CEO, to the stage. It was an exciting moment for the organization as we are about to celebrate our 10-year anniversary in 2017. We are also expected to serve our 100,000th student next year.
Below was our nomination:
Sierra Nevada Journeys (SNJ) is a 501(c)(3) organization that uses the unique outdoor classrooms of the region to deliver robust outdoor science and collaborative problem solving education to promote long-term student achievement. They accomplish this through the Whole School Model, an outdoor education program that ensures the teachable moments inherent in outdoor education are extended both across the school year and through a student's elementary grade progression. SNJ's Whole School Model uses outdoor science education supported by in-school lessons and teacher professional development to maximize student inspiration and achievement across science, technology, engineering, math, reading, and collaborative problem solving.
Since their start in 2006, they have served over 75,000 students and 4,500 educators with residential outdoor science programs, field and school based programs and teacher professional development. SNJ has more than doubled the students they have served over the past 3 years; SNJ now serves 2/3rds of elementary school in Northern NV with outdoor science programs; and SNJ will serve over 50 schools with Family Science Nights in the coming school year.
Thank you to our staff, trustees, volunteers and financial partners. Thank you to our community of teachers, parents and students. We couldn't have done this without you.
Congratulations to all the other Golden Pinecone winners! We are honored to be surrounded by such dedicated and talented individuals and organizations.
History of the Golden Pinecone
The Golden Pinecone Ball was started by Tod Bedrosian, Bob Fulkerson, Glenn Miller and Bob Loux in 1988 to bring the environmental community together as friends and initially to get the community excited about stopping the dump of nuclear waste. It was nicknamed the "conservation casual drab event" and the pinecone awards were handmade out of plywood, an ironic twist on formal award ceremonies to honor the environmental accomplishments of the past year.
The Golden Pinecone Awards and Ball is a legacy event run for more than 25 years by Environmental Leadership, Nevada EcoNET and more recently greenUP! In 2016, GREENevada took ownership for the vent as part of its environmental leadership mission. GREENevada has a strong reach throughout the environmental community and wanted to continue this important tradition of recognizing outstanding individuals and organizations for their achievements toward improving and sustaining the environment.
Last Friday, the Sierra Nevada Journeys team celebrated a successful year of serving youth from Northern Nevada and Northern California through outdoor science programming. We played a few rounds of bowling with our family and friends at the Grand Sierra Resort. We can't say we're as good at bowling as we are science, but we sure tried!
When we celebrate our successes, we remind ourselves each year about our core values which we call "QARE."
We are committed to outstanding quality (Q)
We strive to improve through rigorous evaluations of our actions
We flexibly embrace change that makes our programs and operations better
We celebrate actions that demonstrate our commitment to excellence
We are accountable (A)
We do what we say we’ll do for each other and for our stakeholders
At all levels of our team, we set, commit to, and reach specific goals
We respect each other and ourselves (R)
We foster a respectful work environment by using supportive actions and words to positively impact our teammates and ensuring our co-workers do the same
We work to understand the goals and challenges of our team, participants and donors, and integrate these considerations into our actions
We believe that a diverse set of backgrounds and skills adds value to our organization
We provide unforgettable experiences (E)
We keep participants’ safety, education and experience at the forefront of our actions
We recognize the uniqueness of our experience for our participants, and show up each day ready to deliver
We are happy to announce the four individuals who we thought best represented each value in 2016.
Q - Debbie Fairbanks, our Housekeeping Manager, represents the core value of Quality. She is always working to make our campus as clean and pleasant as possible, she accepts change with a smile on her face and she is a positive role model for all staff and clients.
(not pictured)
Olive Poulsen receives the 2016 Accountability Award.
A - Olive Poulsen, Residential Outdoor Science Instructor, represents the core value of Accountability. We can always rely on Olive to meet our mission as well as the needs of her students. She will be coming back next season to lead our newest camp session "Counselor-in-Training" (CIT) as the CIT Director.
Greggor Manning receives the 2016 Respect Award.
R - Greggor Manning, Sous Chef, represents the core value of Respect. He respects his co-workers, and listens to their questions and concerns and provides solutions when able. He understands that teamwork is essential. His family life and past experience in the food industry is invaluable.
Lourdes Calzada receives the 2016 Unique Experiences Award.
E - Lourdes Calzada, Part-Time Educator, represents the core value of Unique Experiences. Lourdes has a positive attitude and a smile that brightens up the room. She provides unforgettable experiences to not only her students, but to our SNJ staff through the newly adopted culture committee.
Thank you to our entire team for a wonderful year! We couldn't achieve our mission without your hard work and dedication.
Sierra Nevada Journeys is pleased to announce that they were able to send 46 low-income youth to SNJ Summer Camp at Grizzly Creek Ranch in Portola, CA.
Youth from local organizations Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada and Reno Housing
Authority were given full scholarships to attend camp. Additionally, youth who qualify for Free
and Reduced Lunch were given partial scholarships to cover half the costs of camp.
Sierra Nevada Journeys received funding for this effort from the Helen Close Foundation,
individual donors during Nevada’s Big Give and throughout the year, as well as from a matching grant from Sierra Nevada Journeys’ Board of Trustees.
“This year was a mixture of new and returning youth to camp at Grizzly Creek Ranch,” said Oscar Aguilar, the youth coordinator at Reno Housing Authority. “The van ride back to Reno is always the best, because this is the moment when you find out how much fun they had. They enjoyed the camp fire skits they came up with and positive energy and motivation they received from the staff at camp.”
“We are so grateful to the generous donors who made it possible for these children to
experience the camaraderie and outdoor fun of camp, which for many of the youth is a life-changing experience,” said Karen Senger, development director at Sierra Nevada Journeys.
Summer camp is one of the many programs that Sierra Nevada Journeys offers local youth. They also have hands-on, science-based programs that occur within elementary schools in Northern Nevada and Northern California. Programs include Classrooms Unleashed, Overnight Outdoor Learning and Family Science Nights.
When individuals donate to Sierra Nevada Journeys, they will be providing programming
scholarships for our community’s low-income youth.
