Cayla J. Romano 
Hello, welcome back to the podcast series, "Bound the Science," brought to you by streaming science, a student-driven program that connects you as scientists want to how science impacts us in our everyday lives. My name is Cayla Romano, and I'll be your host during this podcast episode. I'm a master's student here at the University of Florida studying agricultural education, communication and specializing in communication. Joining us today is Sarah Wolking a volunteer 4-H leader in Alachua. County and a teacher in the University of Florida Levin College of Law, you will get to learn more about her a new forage group called Community Action Projects for the Environment, and how today's youth is creating positive environmental changes for their community.

Hi, Sarah, thank you so much for joining us here today on our Streaming Science Podcast. I'm so excited to learn more about 4-H Community Action Projects for the Environment or CAPE. So for our listeners who aren't familiar with who you are, could you possibly introduce yourself, like who you are and what you do and then how you're involved with CAPE.

Sarah Wolking  
Absolutely! Lovely to be here with you today. I am a teacher and volunteer 4-H leader and I became involved with CAPE through my work with young people who participated in the Florida 4-H Forest Ecology Contest.

Cayla J. Romano
That's crazy. I didn't know that was even a thing.

Sarah Wolking  
It is! It is.

Cayla J. Romano
Wow. Okay, so that's so fun. So could you explain a little bit more about 4-H? I know a lot of students are probably familiar with it, but for those of us who aren't, because I consider myself from the people who don't know too much about 4-H. So could you just talk about a little bit what it is and like maybe how they're building good citizens?

Sarah Wolking  
Absolutely. 4-H is America's largest youth development organization, and it empowers nearly 6 million young people with the skills to be leaders for a lifetime and forage programs are delivered by Cooperative Extension in land grant universities like at the University of Florida. And with the help of over 500,000 volunteers for eight years complete hands on projects in areas like health, science, agriculture, and civic engagement in a positive environment with guidance from adult mentors, and all four teachers are encouraged to take on leadership roles and become good citizens. My brother and I were in 4-H when we were kids and have often talked about how it changed our lives and made us who we are. My brother is an eye surgeon now and says that he developed all of his surgery skills through his first 4-H sewing project.

Cayla J. Romano
Oh my gosh, I love that! They should tell the head of 4-H about that!

Sarah Wolking  
Isn't that crazy?

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah! That's amazing. Oh, now I wish I would have done for each and sewing skills. See where that can take me. That's so cool. So I guess that would you say that's how you got involved with like, being a 4-H leader today? Or was there something else that got you involved with it?

Sarah Wolking  
No, I got involved through my best friend in elementary school whose parents were 4-H leaders and I did 4-H projects ranging from nutrition to forestry to public speaking and livestock judging. And then as soon as my oldest child turned five, my kids joined 4-H and I was delighted to become a 4-H leader myself to kind of pay forward all the mentoring that I'd received in my years in 4-H.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, of course, it's so inspiring. And I can look back and think about the adults who inspired me when I was a kid to like, go on and do the things I'm doing today. So that's really cool that you were able to like recognize that and then go on and inspire the youth today and help them with their 4-H projects. We talked a little bit about CAPE, but could you explain that a little bit more like who's involved in different age groups and stuff?

Sarah Wolking  
Absolutely. CAPE for community action projects for the environment. I think it's the coolest nickname ever acronym C A P E, CAPE. It's a forage program for young people, ages 11 through 18 that guides them through the process of brainstorming, developing, implementing and reflecting on a project that addresses an environmental issue affecting their community. Youth in this program ask decision makers to make a change that benefits everyone.

Cayla Romano  
Wow I love hearing about all this the projects because like this is stuff that I would never do. And like I don't I'm not even familiar with how policymaking goes to know that like the youth is are the ones carrying us is great news.

Sarah Wolking  
Very great news.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah. They're making the changes, learn about how it's done, like the real stuff. So what made you want to become involved with CAPE, like specifically in 4-H.

Sarah Wolking  
So it's actually just what you said. Young people are carrying us, they are going to be the change makers in our world. They have the energy, the enthusiasm, the creativity and the mindset to affect real change. And it's just so exciting to help mentor and guide them through this process. And, you know, one thing that I've noticed it through through my career is that our sort of emphasis on civic education has really declined, like, many people don't understand how local government works. And we may have some appreciation for what happens on a national political stage or even the state stage. But most of the things that affect our day to day lives happen at our city council meetings, or town council meetings or county commission meetings. And that's sort of our focus with CAPE.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, I definitely agree that not a lot of us know, like about our community government and stuff like that, like we just talked about this in our class the other day, and our teacher asked us, like, how many of us know about our, like, community government? And what's going on with that, and nobody raised their hand. So and she was like, Yeah, I don't know, either. I don't know how any of it works. So I think it's so important that we're teaching the youth like how to make changes, and use that as a resource for, like, all these things that are happening with our environment. And clearly, I think some stuff on the individual level isn't doing what we want it to be doing, and like making changes in our community as a whole, and then maybe one day our county in our state, and then it just keeps going and going like a chain reaction.

Sarah Wolking  
Yeah, exactly.

Cayla J. Romano
Okay, so how many students would you say are involved in CAPE?

Sarah Wolking  
So in our Alachua County, 4-H CAPE program, we have about a dozen members. And there are probably a dozen CAPE programs around the state of Florida, we're just in the early stages, this is our second year of running the program. And this year, we're actually piloting CAPE programs around the country. So we have groups in Pennsylvania and Minnesota and Alaska, who are also working on the same, maybe not the same community issues that we're working on, but using the same curriculum and kind of program ideals.

Cayla J. Romano
I love that. Big changes are being made all over the country. That's so cool. So I know you can only speak on behalf of the youth that you know, but what would you say their attitudes are towards being in CAPE and creating these positive environmental changes in the community?

Sarah Wolking  
I think the the words that strike me most about this question or that it has been eye opening for our young people, different than what they are used to in their school environments where they're required to do community service, or different than some of our service projects that we do in 4-H, where we, you know, pick up trash on the side of the road, or work to clean up the river, or pick up trash on the beach, or even install a butterfly garden, you know, in a town or community. CAPE embraces the idea of service learning, which encourages young people to learn about their community, develop life skills, reflect on the project that they're undertaking. So what what they do in CAPE is they actually do a deep dive into what environmental issues are happening in their community, what is potentially affecting them. And then they are coming up with a plan and a project and a strategy to implement change. So it's, it's not a one off service project, it is a really deep, we think of it as service learning. And then, you know, they meet a need in the process of this, they meet a need in the community, and they work with others to address shared environmental or social problems through local governance. And then, of course, this civic engagement promotes the quality of life in our community, through both political and non political processes. So they've made connections with stakeholders who are in government who are in advisory boards, who are developers in our community. You know, our group has focused on tree mitigation policies in in the city of Gainesville. And so what we noticed is that, as new developments and buildings are being put up in Gainesville, giant old growth trees are being chopped down, you know, mainly live oaks and our community and Gainesville has been known for years as a city and a forest. And so what it's starting to look like is the city in a parking lot, you know, like we're really, we're really losing our tree canopy, which affects the quality of life for all of us. And so even though developers are following our rules that the city of Gainesville has promulgated, we're still you know, my books are being chopped down and crape myrtles are being replaced, you know, or put in their, in their stead. And you know, that those are not the same quality shade trees, you know, that we're that we're used to. So, I would say the youth attitudes are fantastic. And they're really, you know, they're feeling this sense of self that they can they can affect change, which is is huge for young people, I mean, for all of us.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, just that feeling of like that you can make a difference. And then seeing the fruits of their labor is just, it's great. And they can actually see like the changes that they're making. That's so wonderful. So you talked about, like how these, these students are like, making these policy changes talking to change leaders, how or is this being taught through CAPE and like, what do meetings look like?

Sarah Wolking  
So meetings are student led, which is one of my favorite things about four h in general is that, that our 4-H'

ers, these young people lead the meetings, and they in in conjunction with, you know, their adult mentors are kind of figuring out what meetings look like, the nice thing about the CAPE curriculum that that folks here at the University of Florida have developed is that it really, it, it makes it a lot easier. It's not like you're starting from scratch you. So we sort of have an organizational plan in the sense that the young people choose the community they want to focus on, they identify like, what is an environmental citizen, they create a community vision, one of my favorite activities that we've done in this program is that we all sort of take a blank sheet of paper, and we draw our ideal community. And you know, some people make lists, some people do stick figures, some people are beautiful artists and draw these great, great communities. But what we see in doing this exercise is that we all agree on things that we that we want, you know, we want to have clean water, we want to have walking trails, we want to have trees, we, you know, want to have places where we can bike and have community gardens and all kinds of things, there's so much overlap. And after we sort of figure those things out, we identify issues that where we see things aren't going well, like we noticed big oak trees are being chopped down. And then we identify stakeholders, and we explore whether, you know, it's the laws that are creating these issues, or, or, you know, what's what are the root causes of the things that were dissatisfied with. And then we we do a meeting devoted to strategic thinking about how to make change, we identify, you know, community partners, we make a plan, and then we launch a project. And then, you know, as you know, because you're young, you know, that everything happens on social media, you know, people publicize it. So we also devote meeting time to figuring out how to make a pitch and how to do it. Like a news release, and on what platforms do we release this? Like? Are we doing this in a local newspaper? Are we doing this on Twitter? Are we doing this on Facebook? Like, because these are tools, of course, that young people especially are using to get out to get out the word. And then we create presentations? And in the end, hopefully, we celebrate our successes.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, yeah, using social media in like a strategic way can really make a difference on what is going on and even get more youth involved and make them motivated to be like, "oh, yeah, like, if they're doing that, I can do that, too." So that's great. And these meetings, some, they all have a goal.

Sarah Wolking  
Exactly. And even what you're doing here on this podcast, right, I mean, this is how people are learning is through podcasts, which, you know, when I was growing up, we wouldn't have thought of you think of learning as you do this in the classroom at school, right? But now we know that, you know, we learn all the time and everywhere and these these students are really enthusiastic, to learn and to teach. Right? It's, it's, it's really fun.

Cayla J. Romano
Oh, yeah, we're learning all the time, especially, like, my social media is just, it's all like, you have this extension, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Like all these things, I'm just constantly learning because social media can be such a powerful tool just to learn, like the amount of bird species I've learned from Cornell birds.

Sarah Wolking  
Right! Excatly!

Cayla J. Romano
It's crazy.

Sarah Wolking  
Exactly. No, it's it's a great example are the apps on your phone help you identify trees and plants, right? I mean, we literally you all, all of us can learn all the time. And so it's important to use that as a tool.

Cayla J. Romano
Oh, it's so true. And just a way to connect with people like we've never been so connected than we are right now, with our social media, you can talk to anybody around the country, and like around the Earth. Crazy.

Sarah Wolking  
Absolutely, absolutely.

Cayla J. Romano
So why do you think, teaching policymaking, and like talking to these change leaders, and just leadership in general, why is that important for today's youth to learn?

Sarah Wolking  
I think it's very important, because our policies are created by our elected leaders, you know, we have cultures that happen, of course, around our laws, but the way to change laws and, and assist in changing culture is by understanding how to do it. So by attending meetings by understanding how the process works, how laws are made, how laws are changed, you know, we we have had a really engaging experience in in Gainesville with around these tree issues where, you know, we, on the one hand attend, you know, City Commission meetings, and then we see other people chaining themselves to trees, right. So there, those are two different ways to affect change. Some are more effective than others, sometimes they work in conjunction with each other. But it's really important for students, for young people for all of us to understand how policies are changed, and a lot of times those policies, you know, drive behaviors that aren't good, and then they need to be reevaluated and changed. So I'm just thinking of like developers, and environmentalists, you know, we usually think of them as as being against each other. But there are ways to think of conservation development, right development, developers aren't all evil people who just want to chop down trees for the fun of it, right? Developers of interests, they want to make money. But they also recognize that one of the things, one of the places people want to live here, because there are big trees. So I mean, I think there there are there ways that we can cooperate and work together to develop good incentives for developers, and to create policy around outcomes that we want to see.

Cayla J. Romano
That's so great that part of this is teaching the students about like how people have different perspectives, and although we think is right, and we're like, we have this assumption that the developers are bad, and they're doing this, but a lot of them maybe just need a job, and they need to provide for their families or like they don't even know the impact of what they're doing. They're just going to work. So it's so important that we teach our youth that we all have different perspectives, and then bring that into policymaking and thinking about, it's not just about my point of view what I want, but what everybody wants. So that's really great. And even what you're talking about giving them different incentives, or like telling them different things, or just educating like developers about what's going on could make all the difference.

Sarah Wolking  
Yeah, exactly.

Cayla J. Romano
I love all the stuff when you learn about like systems thinking and thinking about how other people see things. And then you realize like, the world is not just all about what I think it's about what everybody thinks!

Sarah Wolking  
Absolutely. And we do an entire meeting on systems thinking. Like, I'm glad you mentioned that, because it's really important to understand. I mean, we have to understand systems in order to affect change, because you have to work within the existing systems that we have. So you're absolutely right.

Cayla J. Romano
I just love mental things to how does the brain work? Why do I think this? And then like systems thinking does all that and like, why is this problem happening? Like, it's not just cause and effect, it's like, there are all these things are part of this whole system. And then we think about it.

Sarah Wolking  
Right! Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Cayla J. Romano
So it seems like the students get a lot of practical experiences with policymaking and stuff. How do you think that prepares them to become more active community members, either today, and then maybe in the future, too, when they're adult?

Sarah Wolking  
One of the things that we do is what we call a community inventory. And that's where the students either you know, in pairs or individually, research, what's happening in our community, and talk to various stakeholders so that we understand the issues. So in our case, you know, our members have been thinking about land use codes and planning. And they have interviewed people who serve on planning boards, and who who work as private landscape architects, and who are city employees like the city arborist or, you know, at the county level, like people who do tree inventories and stuff like that. And we have gone to committee meetings of our tree Advisory Board, we have gone to city and county commission meetings to understand how these issues are discussed. And so it prepares them to be active on these community boards or to become elected politicians, you know, in the future, and if they've realized that they can do this, like the people they're talking to and learning about what they do these these young people are feeling like, well, these are just regular people, I can do this, right, I can be making these decisions and, you know, giving back to my community in these kinds of ways. So, I think they're being exposed to all kinds of different roles that people play in our community. And that's, that's going to prepare them to be active and engaged. And and, you know, be good civic citizens be good citizens, and then in the future.

Cayla J. Romano
What do you mentioned about like them seeing, like community leaders, when they like, "Oh, they're just real people," it reminds me of when you're a student, when you're a kid, and you think your teacher is just a teacher, and then one day, you have the realization that they're a real person, they have like, a family. And they exist, and they like, go out to dinner. And they're not just a teacher.

Sarah Wolking  
Right? And they do laundry and dishes. Go to the movies occasionally.

Cayla J. Romano
And you're like, wait a minute, you have a cat too. That's crazy. You're real?

Sarah Wolking  
Excatly!

Cayla J. Romano
You know, like maybe the realization that like, this person is real.

Sarah Wolking  
That's right. That's right!

Cayla J. Romano
Our community leaders aren't just mannequins sitting in a room that just go to work. Like they have feelings, and they're real.

Sarah Wolking  
That's right. And they grapple with the same, you know, questions that we do. Know, it's good, that the young people have this realization that they can actually affect change. And that, you know, as you were saying that the our civic leaders are not mannequins, they're, you know, they're not some kind of machines, they're real people. And our students then can look at them and say, "Hey, I could do this. I could do this." Which is really exciting.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, that's great. I think that's like, what they need and being able to be there and meet them, I think makes all the difference, that they're not just sitting in the ivory tower, and that they're not accessible, like you can see them and see how change is made. That's just so great, and I'm so glad that they get those experiences. Could you share some Cape success stories? I'd love to hear some.

Sarah Wolking  
Yes on delighted to, and this is a very recent success story. But as I mentioned, we've been working on you know, trying to protect our tree canopy in Gainesville. And we had four giant live oaks in in the downtown area that were slated to be chopped down. And we donned our cool CAPE T-shirts, and about 12 of us went to the most recent City Commission meeting where they were going to decide about chopping down these trees. And we spoke, and we sat in the front two rows and looked at the city commissioners, and we listened to them describe the issue, the city manager was very concerned that the city had been receiving lawsuits from essentially people who were having a difficult time navigating past the roots of these trees that because they're so old, they had sort of pushed up the sidewalks in places, and they were advocating that the trees just be chopped down and replaced with with new twig trees, which may eventually grow but weren't going to be live oaks. And one of the commissioners at the start of the meeting said, Look, we have to deal with these lawsuit issues. And, you know, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, we just need to make sure that safety is our number one priority. And yes, we're going to miss the shade and the beauty of these trees, but they really need to be chopped down. And after she made that statement, she said, okay, but we'll open it up for public comment anyway. And the students, you know, we're looking around going, Wow, it's like you've already decided before you've even heard from people who are really concerned about this issue. And so one of our members stood up, and you know, we only have three minutes, but she gave an impassioned three minutes speech about the issue is whether or not the public works department needed to pay attention to another part of the code, which was designed to protect trees. So the students also had to really learn about how statutes are interpreted. And they spent a lot of time figuring out, you know, why this one land use code or public works code, you know, which was part of the same general municipal code in the city of Gainesville? Why it didn't involve any tree protection. And anyway, so she made a great legal argument. She made a great environmental argument, she made an impassioned plea for these for these four trees to be saved. And then her dad is actually a wounded warrior, a vet who lost his leg and so who has great familiarity with being in a wheelchair and with accessibility issues, and he also made an impassioned speech. I, you know, just as an aside, one of the coolest things about four h is that you really have adults and youth working side by side. And so this was a really neat example of that both adults and youth being concerned about this issue, and speaking, and we spoke and thenanother 10 or so people spoke and ended the meeting, the Commission voted to save three of the four trees. So it was a humongous success. I mean, we're disappointed that we didn't save all four of the trees. But it really made a difference that we lent our voices to this issue and gave them some options for how, you know, move the railings and make the street bigger, get rid of a parking place. Like there were so many ways you could think about this issue that we provided the the city commissioners, and they voted to save three of those four trees. So it was like just an incredible success. And some of our members were interviewed by WUFT News. And it was just I mean, it was really, really fantastic.

Cayla J. Romano
That is so inspiring, I'm so glad that trees can stay, I love the live oaks, they're so beautiful and old.

Sarah Wolking  
I know!

Cayla J. Romano
It would have been such a shame if they got chopped down. And then it's like that, that thing again, with different perspectives, it's like, everybody has a different way of thinking about things and creating solutions. And that the students were able to bring the solutions that they thought of, and look, now the trees are saved! I love it.

Sarah Wolking  
It's really, it's incredible. I mean, it's just, and this has been the culmination of like two years of work for these 4-Hers. So, you know, to have that kind of perspective and stick to intuitivness over a couple of years. I mean, this is what really distinguishes this CAPE program is that this isn't like, let's go pick up trash for two hours or, you know, clear invasive species out of an area, right, this is, you know, you really have to be dedicated to making change, and change does not happen overnight. And so this is just, you know, one example of something we were able to accomplish after a lot of work.

Cayla J. Romano
And they had to learn all the policy things and learn about like what they were even talking about in the meeting, because I'm sure they had some law language in there that most people don't understand. And just like all the things that they had to go in there prepared for, and, you know, give their plea of what they think should happen. And it worked. It can work.

Sarah Wolking  
It did, it did work, and for them to offer their interpretation of this municipal code, which was different than the city manager's interpretation. And different than the town, that city attorneys interpretation. You know, they weren't afraid to say, "Look, you guys could look at this differently." Like there's a different way to read this code. And that was neat.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah. So cool. How do you think these experiences, especially this one, where there was success, and the students were able to see it firsthand, how do you think that promotes self efficacy or just the feeling that they can do something and that they are empowered to do something? How do you think that promotes that?

Sarah Wolking  
So because a CAPE project is the combination of making a request for a policy change, and bolstering that request with information, an argument that's persuasive, and applies to the community, I think it's the picture of self efficacy, you know, it's this young person's belief in their ability to complete a task or to achieve a goal. And it just, it encompasses somebody's confidence and their self, to influence their environment, and to stay motivated in the pursuit of that goal over years, you know, which is really what all of us are doing, right? When we when we're a student, and you're, you're a master student, right? You're, it takes a lot to pursue that path and, and to be able to realize that goal at the end, that's all self efficacy, and CAPE really, really promotes that.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah. And that's so important, just believing that you can do it, and not being discouraged. Just having the self confidence to be like, I can do this.

Sarah Wolking  
Right. And, you know, your generation gets... well I was gonna say your generation gets a bad rap for, you know, being the participation generation, like, you know, you get on a soccer field and you get a trophy, and everybody gets a ribbon and all that kind of stuff. Right? But, but you guys do big things. And this program, which really sort of forces you to dig deep shows that you know, that your reputation is not deserved.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, I guess eventually, you want more than a participation trophy.

Sarah Wolking  
Right. Right. And that's how you're going to change the world is with a lot more work and effort, which is you know, exactly what you're doing and exactly what these young people are doing in CAPE.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, love to hear about it. So what are some future goals for CAPE?

Sarah Wolking  
 I have no idea what CAPE's future goals are because it really depends on what 4-Hers see in their community. So, I mean, I can say, generally, it's going to be to continue to tackle the issues which, which they see, but this whole project really forces you to look hard at your community, and identify root causes of problems and talk to people and figure out where you want to put your efforts. So I have no idea, but the sky's the limit, you know, in terms of what they can do, and the more they do things like this, the more they're like, "Oh, yeah, I can tackle that problem. Sure. We've already tackle this problem. So this next thing isn't going to be a problem." I mean, it'll be a lot of work, but you know, it's not going to deter us.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, I guess it's not really a future goal. It's more like, overarching "always" goal is just to protect our planet, and do better for our environment.

Sarah Wolking  
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the perfect answer actually, I should have left that one to you.

Cayla J. Romano
So um, I know that the program's only been going on for about two years. So I don't know if you know, you have many students who have like, graduated, and, like, left the program. But do you know anything about what they have possibly gone on to do after being a member of CAPE?

Sarah Wolking  
Yes. As you say, it is relatively new, but all of our CAPE graduates are in college. And they are studying across a wide range of disciplines from forestry and environmental sciences, to political science and communications. And I will, I am so pleased to report that all of our CAPE graduates are still part of our CAPE group. So they felt so strongly about the kinds of issues that we were looking at in our community that they still come and they mentor our younger members, and they attend meetings. And they, you know, they help brainstorm and troubleshoot and strategize. So they're, they're, although they're officially graduated, they're still with us. And it's, you know, part of the power of 4-H and part of the power of this CAPE program is that, you know, people want to keep joining.

Cayla J. Romano
Yeah, that's so great. I love that they still come back and help and they're so motivated by this.

Sarah Wolking  
Yeah.

Cayla J. Romano
And I love to hear all the stuff that they're doing. Like that's some cool majors we have and hopefully, you know, people who are going to make real change just like they did in CAPE.

Sarah Wolking  
Yeah, exactly.

Cayla J. Romano
Would you say that the students in CAPE have hope for the future of our planet?

Sarah Wolking  
And emphatic yes! Absolutely. Having seen how their work as teenagers can make a difference, they feel a great sense of hope for the future. Now, they are not naive anymore. If they ever were, they're somewhat cynical about some of the things they see going on. But they also understand why these things are going on. And I think this helps them with their systems thinking this helps them set realistic goals. And it helps them target areas and constituents that they need to work with, to make sure the dire things that you know, have already happened to our planet. And the dire things that could happen on our planet don't happen. And they do that at a very hands on local level. And of course, that's, that's fundamental before, ah, this is all about hands on learning, like what can we do to make a difference in our community? And so I would say they are very helpful. But they're also very much understanding that they need to roll up their sleeves, and this is going to be a persistent continuous effort.

Yeah, I feel like I need to join CAPE. I need some hope. The the hope that these youth have.

You are welcome, anytime. And there is nothing like hanging around with young people. You know, I mean, I consider you a young person. And you're going to consider these teenagers, young people and I think we just have to keep drawing on that energy and enthusiasm because it's in all of us and you know, the older we get, I think the more easy it is to get discouraged but hang out with young people and you realize that we got a bright future.

Cayla J. Romano
I think I need it. I need that that dazzle, sprinkle on to me. Of hope.

Sarah Wolking  
You come anytime Cayla!

Cayla J. Romano
I just love hearing that like they're, they're optimistic that always makes me feel better.

Sarah Wolking
Yeah.

Cayla J. Romano
So, we've talked about how great this program is. And hopefully, you know, there's someone listening, who was maybe like, I want to join CAPE. So how would you suggest that a student becomes involved?

Sarah Wolking  
Well, it is easy to contact your local Extension agent to join an existing CAPE group or start your own CAPE group in your community. And of course, all of us, everybody who's participated in four h or certainly participated in CAPE is happy to answer questions and do whatever we can to assist. And as I mentioned, you know, Dr. Monroe and her team at the University of Florida have developed this curriculum that, you know, makes it super easy to just get started. And not only is there a curriculum for leaders are mentors, but there's a student curriculum, which really helps students kind of visualize where they're going. And it has simple step by step plans for how you can get started. So I encourage anybody who's listening to his cares about the future of our planet to please reach out. And there's just a lot of support to do a project like this.

Cayla J. Romano
Great, well, hopefully, somebody will be inspired. And you'll have some more future CAPE students, and more youth ready to change the future of our planet, and help our environment. So this has been great. I love learning about CAPE. I just almost wish I was in high school again, because I definitely would do something like this. This sounds so fun. And I'm sure that it's great to like work around these students who are really making a difference.

Sarah Wolking  
It absolutely is very, very fulfilling and motivating. And, yeah, thank you so much for this conversation and, and for teaching people about this awesome program.

Cayla J. Romano
Of course. And thank you so much for being with us today on Streaming Science. I had a joy talking to you. And I hope to hear from you and about CAPE in the future!

Sarah Wolking  
Fantastic! Thank you.

Cayla J. Romano
The following episode was made in partnership with the University of Florida Department of Agricultural Education and Communication. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Boundless Science. We hope you listen with us on the next episode. To find more episodes from the series visit Streaming Science. We look forward to bringing more science to you.