City Light’s Bill Devereaux and Christopher Peguero, along with Boeing’s Brian Anderson, led a tour for a group from YMCA’s Global Teens program to the South Park neighborhood in Seattle as well as Boeing’s cleanup and habitat restoration worksite on the Duwamish River.
The young New York scholars learned about the history of the area and current environmental challenges facing Seattle communities. YMCA’s Global Teens program is dedicated to empowering diverse youths to become global leaders by addressing small and large scale social justice issues, such as the environment.
The group came to Seattle prepared, and well versed on the topics they were going to face. “They were very educated about environmental and social justice issues”, said Peguero. “For me, the most memorable piece was how in touch they were.” The teens spent two weeks learning about conservation and environmental stewardship at Olympic National Park and Islandwood Environmental Learning Center on Bainbridge Island.