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Contributing writer Matt Marcey
The Cortland Youth Center will begin accepting registrations for summer field trips on Wednesday, June 1st. The trips are open to teens age 13 to 18 or in 7th to 12th grades. Registrations must be made in person at the Youth Bureau’s Main Office or the Youth Center, both are located at 35 Port Watson Street in Cortland.
Field trips have always been a key part of the Youth Center’s programming. While the staff emphasizes neighborhood attachment with projects like their community garden and volunteering programs, they also believe that positive youth development includes exposure to places, people, and environments outside a youth’s familiar day-to-day experience.
Neighborhood attachment is an important protective factor for youth that ties in with the mission of Cortland Area Communities that Care, and positive youth development is a goal of the Cortland Youth Center.
The field trip program does not focus on recreation alone. Many trips include visits to historical sites, museums, and areas known for their natural beauty and cultural resources. The purely recreational trips to amusement parks typically serve to generate interest in the other trips and in the Center’s overall programming.
There is a registration fee for each trip, but costs are largely offset by youth-led fundraisers such as chicken barbecues and can-and-bottle drives. The community’s support and the teens’ hard work keep the fees affordable.
The Center also offers discounts for those who do community service. For each hour a youth spends volunteering, the Center will deduct $3.00 from the trip of his or her choice. Community service can be completed at any local agency or business that accepts volunteers. If needed, Youth Bureau staff can help the teens arrange their volunteer placement.
In recent years, over half of the Center’s trip participants have paid their registration fees with community service credits. For many teens, their initial volunteer placement has turned into an ongoing commitment.For some, it has led to an actual job with the agency or business they originally served as a volunteer.
The 2011 summer field trip lineup is below. For more information, please contact the Youth Center’s staff at 753-3580.
July 8: Rafting on the Delaware River
July 13: Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
July 15: Darien Lake Theme Park
July 22: Old Forge and Enchanted Forest Water Safari
July 29: Fort Ontario and Fair Haven Beach State Park
August 2: Hiking at Taughannock Falls
August 5: Seabreeze Amusement Park
August 12: Adirondack Museum and Wild Center museum/zoo/aquarium
August 19: Sterling Renaissance Fair
August 30: The Rosamond Gifford Zoo
Matt Marcey is the Youth Services Specialist at the Cortland Youth Center. He contacted at 35 Port Watson Street, 753-3021.
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