This is the Pepperwood Podcast, a production
of Pepperwood, a non -profit conservation organization
based at a 3 ,200 -acre nature reserve near Santa
Rosa, California, in the heart of the traditional
homeland of the Wappo people. At Pepperwood,
we aim to inspire conservation through science.
And on this show, we talk to scientists, stewards,
and environmental educators about what they do
and how they do it. We hope to give you a glimpse
into the real experiences of folks who devote
their lives to taking care of local ecosystems
and sharing them with others. Welcome Pepperwood
podcast community to another episode. As always,
I am your host, Pepperwood Environmental Educator
Julianne Bradbury, and today we are going to
get a little insight into one of Pepperwood's
most treasured education programs, our Summer
Science Institute for High School Students, called
Teen Nat. We're going to hear the voices of a
few folks who have experienced this program over
the past few years and can represent what the
program was like for them and how it impacted
their lives. First, a little context for you.
What is TeenNet? TeenNet started in the summer
of 2013 and has continued to welcome high school
students into the Pepperwood community every
year since. The details of the program, how many
weeks it lasts, the specific projects that the
participants engage in, have evolved over the
years and changed to accommodate restrictions
like periods of social distancing, but the goals
and the values of the program have remained strong
through it all. First, The program is completely
free of cost to participants, and we are so grateful
to both the donors and the grant funders who
continue to make that possible. There is an application
process that you go through to become a participant,
but there is absolutely no cost to either join
or experience TeenNet. The program is available
to high school students who are entering their
sophomore, junior, or senior years of high school
following the program. In other words, if you
are currently a freshman, sophomore, or junior
in high school, you're eligible to apply for
the upcoming summer of TeenNet. Once they have
applied and been accepted into the program, Team
Nat participants gather at our 3 ,200 -acre nature
reserve for full days of hiking and learning
over a period of several weeks during summertime.
They typically come from many different local
high schools to spend time in and learn about
Pepperwood's diverse habitats. They engage in
real field research and stewardship projects,
as well as nature -related artistic and mindfulness
practices with guidance from Pepperwood's educators,
stewardship professionals, and scientists. They
meet a diverse group of regional conservation
professionals and learn about the wide range
of careers related to the natural world while
building their resume and career skills. I joined
the TNAT staff team in 2024. It was really exciting
for me to become part of a program with such
a rich history, including the TNAT alumni community,
which is more than a decade in the making. Once
someone has participated in the summer program,
they become a lifelong member of the TNAT alumni
community and are therefore invited to annual
alumni events, given special access to all Pepperwood
events, and provided with ongoing career support,
including updates on local conservation internship
and job opportunities, and references and letters
of recommendation from Pepperwood staff. So those
are some of my thoughts and a little background
about TNAT as a program and as a legacy of the
Pepperwood educators who've come before me. But
I want you to hear about the program from the
ones whose opinions matter most, the folks who
have experienced the program for themselves as
participants. At our most recent alumni event
in January of 2025, three of our alumni agreed
to chat with me about their experiences in TNAT,
and I'm going to let them introduce themselves.
Hey, my name is Glenn. I'm a senior in high school
at Orchard View School, and I did TNAT in 2022,
and I've since then attended Winter TNAT in 2023,
2024. My name is Tegan. Currently, I'm a senior
in high school. I did TNAT in 2024, and I've
come back for 2025 Winter TNAT, and I plan to
come back again. I'm Beatrix. I did TNAT in 2024.
I came back for Winter TNAT in 2025, and you
can't stop me from coming back again. Gonna be
back. Right now, I'm still in high school. I'm
a sophomore now. The only STEM thing I'm doing
at the moment is engineering programs, which
isn't too teen that related, but I would credit
teen that to giving me confidence in those. I
loved that final insight from Beatrix, something
that came up often from these three teen at alumni,
all of whom clearly loved the program and are
motivated to keep experiencing teen that through
our alumni events. was that TNAT did not turn
them into laser -focused ecology machines. Indeed,
our goal with TNAT is not just to serve folks
who are committed to becoming the next generation
of professional scientists, nor is it our goal
to brainwash folks into pursuing careers as ecologists
or stewardship professionals. If those careers
are your goal or become your goal, we can certainly
support you, but that's not what... we're really
aiming for. I was really pleased to hear from
Beatrix, Tegan, and Glenn that they didn't feel
pressured to shift all of their life goals during
Teen Nat. Rather, they all described how Teen
Nat opened their eyes to how an increasing love
and value for the natural world can be paired
with other passions and connect them with other
people. I, in fact, wouldn't say that Teen Nat
gave me much of a jumping off point to be like,
now that I've done that, I know how I can be
a science educator or a botanist or anything.
It just gave me more interest in those fields
and gave me a lot of resources to continue pursuing
that. I plan on going to our local junior college
and pursuing a career in photography. I think
that, like, TNAT definitely helped me realize
that, like, I can have other interests than just
photography because I know that I didn't have,
like, much of a plan outside of, like, oh, I'm
going to go to college and I'm going to do photography
and then I don't know what I'm going to do from
there. But now I know that while I do that, I
can also have kind of, like, a subset of interest.
It was kind of hard having only one thing to
enjoy. But then you kind of realize that, oh,
you know, there's this whole, like, STEM culture
and doing INAT definitely helped me realize that
there's a huge community online. Tina helped
me realize that I not only had one hobby and
that I needed to follow in that hobby, that I
can combine my hobbies and that not only can
I be a STEM person, but there's also an artistic
side to STEM, especially with the online photography
system I'm at and seeing kind of a artistic and
humane kind of resource in that kind of data.
One of the great things about T9 is that there's
such a diverse group of students that attend.
They're not all students that are interested
in biology or environmental science. I myself,
for example, would like to study mechanical engineering,
which is a bit different from maybe straight
biology or chemistry, but I'm still able to...
love the outdoors and being out there. And some
of the friends that I made and some of the classmates
from my year were people that were interested
not just in environmental science, but different
tech, in English, in writing, etc. And we were
able to connect over this common love for the
nature and for the outdoors. Speaking of becoming
connected with others, I asked about who our
participants interacted with during TeenNet.
Who were the human and non -human friends that
they met and spent time with? I met a lot of
people that I'm still... catching up with online.
I met a lot of people of different types than
I would have just met in my normal school, which
isn't a big one, doesn't have too many people
who would want to be outside all summer. So it's
very cool to know people who want to be outside
all summer, and I'm glad that I've been able
to keep up with some of them. And as for non
-human friends, I haven't been able to catch
up with any of them, but maybe I'll meet them
again someday. What are some examples of those?
I'm not sure that snake I saw would consider
me a friend, but I would consider it a friend.
Fair, fair. Did you determine what kind of snake
it was? Friend -shaped. Friend -shaped. Friend
-shaped snake, my favorite kind. The first, god,
I don't think it was the first hike. but maybe
it was the second. One of the things we have
to do for T -Net is the project that we present
at the end. And first, second, maybe third hike
that we went on, third day, I managed to pick
up the third most painful stinging animal insect
that there is out there, the velvet ant. Didn't
know what it was, then was told that it is that
and decided not to pick it up. After having dropped
it multiple times, I didn't mean to. I swear
I didn't mean to. Of course not. She didn't sting
me though, which is nice. And we know it's a
she because they are a... wingless type of um
the the the females don't have any wings but
they're a wasp so i found an ant that looks like
a wasp that might have stung me but she chose
not to but she chose not to so i think we're
friends on that level okay great so that was
your that was one of your first friends yeah
yeah and it was also what i chose to do for my
project because we had to um Also, we had to
have proof of our animals, and we had to have
photos of them. Cool. So, yeah, you made that
friend, and she lasted you the whole T -Net experience.
She was kind of the one that started it. She
got the ball rolling. That's great. I didn't
have anything. I had no clue what I was going
to do, and then I was like, you know what? Why
not? That's right. That's right. You were inspired
by that moment. Cool. Any human friends come
out of this for you? I did. I am currently, after
this, I'm going to go to the mall with some people
that I know. Great. I think, besides, T -Net
is not like... I met these people at TeenNet,
and not only do we meet outside of TeenNet, but
we keep on coming back to TeenNet. I think that's
something that is really important, is that TeenNet
is a place where we can meet, and we can have
these fun experiences together. Not only because
we met that one time, but because we are going
to create lasting memories. Sometimes we need
excuses to hang out with people that we love,
and that's something that we hopefully provide
for you. So that's so good. The alumni community
is wonderful. For Winter TeenNet, every year
I meet great new students who are doing... completely
different things in life, but are able to come
back to this love for Pepperwood and for the
outdoors. Next, I asked Glenn, Tegan, and Beatrix
to reflect on how their experiences in TNAT impacted
their lives overall. TNAT actually really gave
me the confidence to be more myself in school
the next semester. That's incredible. And it
also obviously helped me know a lot more when
I'm outside. got me wanting to be outside more
again. I kind of forgot how fun some of this
was. So that's something that you had used to
enjoy, but you had maybe lost it a little bit?
Yeah, maybe lost it, maybe just wasn't hiking
as much, and then CNAT reminded me, oh, I need
to try harder to get outside. Adding on to what
Glynn was saying about the CNAT alumni community,
it's hard to understate how resourceful and how
great it is to have connections at Pepperwood,
because if you ever need any of Pepperwood's
resources, then you have someone to talk to.
And every newsletter we get seems like it has
a whole list of opportunities for TeenNet alumni,
and they're all right here, and it feels much
easier to look there or to look to a Pepperwood
staff to look for an opportunity that can be
of use to you than to just look on the Internet
and look for lists of the top five whatever across
the world. All the resources you get are right
here, and that is one of the most valuable parts
of TNAT. One of the great things about TNAT is
that we also learn that everything, like all
of the plants that we learn, all of the facts
that we learn, all of the plants that we get
to work with, all the animals that we get to
see are all native, and they are all in our area.
I live 25 minutes from Pepperwood, which means
that all of the things that I have found here
or that I see here, I can also see in my backyard
or around my neighborhood, and I think that's
really fun. TNAT opens doors and TNAT gives people
like me the opportunity to discover and learn
more of what's possible out there. Want to maybe
pursue something in research or in preserves
or nature wildlife or ecology when normally I
might not have considered that as a career path.
And I'm sure that there are many of my classmates
from my year of TNAT who did not consider having
a career in environmental science or something
else and TNAT opened the doors for them. It's
small class sizes, so the environmental educators
are really able to connect and work one -on -one
with each student. At the end of the TNAT section,
we do a final project, which is where the students
display, create a work that shows all of their
learning throughout the three, four weeks at
TNAT. And we see these students and people like
me that are able to use our other skills, like,
for example, me, that was some video editing
and computer science to apply them towards Pepperwood
in ways that we wouldn't have expected. So, for
example, I created a small documentary video
that was on some of the indigenous people that
are with Pepperwood and climate change and how
that's affected. This is something that I would
never have thought of was an issue until I came
to TNAT and learned from some speakers in the
indigenous community in Sonoma County. Finally,
I asked our alumni why someone should apply for
TNAT. And I should have expected our smart, savvy
alumni to see where I was going with this. You
should apply if that sounds like something you
want to do. I think that's the point of this
podcast to get you to apply. But anyway, I'll
say it again. Totally. Uh -oh, they're on to
me. Beatrix could not be more right. We want
high school students to apply for and experience
Teen Nat. We love it. But even with that bias
in play, I think these three did each share some
practical advice on why applying for Teen Nat
might be a good idea for you. My mom told me
that... Over the summer, I needed to find something
to do. And I actually found TNAT through their
SEA program, where after you go to TNAT, you
can work with other TNATers in the future. You
just have to be a previous TNAT attendant and
also over 18. And I found that, and I was like,
well, if I do this, I don't have a long -lasting
plan. I went to TNAT because I was like, it's
something that can help me move forward in my
life, not only career -wise, but also experience
-wise. And I think TNAT is great for experiences.
not only the only thing you really need is a
way to get here, but once you are here, there's
so many other opportunities. Our environmental
educators kind of help you reel in all of these
like crazy ideas. Like, oh, I want to see this
and I want to see this and I want to see this
and I want to do this. And they go, well, here
are the tools to do it. So go do it. You know,
they kind of inspire you to get out there and
do the things that you kind of wrap your head
around and do. Do you want something to do over
the summer? I did and I had a good time. If you
like hiking, if you like being in the outdoors,
if you want to spend some time just running around
hills, then TNAT is perfect for you. We do have
hills. Yes, a lot of them. I want to say a big
thank you to Beatrix, Glenn, and Tegan for their
enthusiastic participation in TNAT, their willingness
to share their thoughts and experiences with
you all, and for being great people to spend
a summer and our subsequent events with. It sounds
like the feeling's pretty mutual, as Tegan says.
Um, this place is cool. I like it. I love it.
I don't know when this episode is reaching you,
dear listener. At the time we're releasing the
episode, there are still a few precious weeks
left for high school students to submit applications
for the summer 2025 cohort of Teen Nat, but you
could be listening to this years from now, so
this year's application period details probably
aren't very relevant to you. So, What I will
tell you is this. T -NAT isn't going anywhere
as far as Pepperwood is concerned. It's going
to keep happening year after year. So go to our
website at pepperwoodpreserve .org, follow the
links to the T -NAT page, or email us at tnat
at pepperwoodpreserve .org. That's T -E -N -N
-A -T at pepperwoodpreserve .org for up -to -date
information about the program. The application
period tends to take place between January and
April each year, so that's a great time to check
in on the program for the following summer. Perhaps
you are not a high school student and aren't
immediately connected with one, but you really
liked what you heard about our TNAT program and
how it impacts the lives of young people, and
you want to help support it. Something that I
really treasure about TNAT is that it is absolutely
no ifs, ands, or buts, free of cost to participants.
They don't have to fill out any financial aid
applications or even think about paying to participate.
I find that really important in terms of keeping
the program as accessible as possible to all
high school students in our community. If you
feel the same way, please consider contributing
financially to Pepperwood as a sort of informal
sponsorship for future TNAT participants. You
can always feel free to mention the TNAT program
as part of your donation, but just know that
all of our departments, all of Pepperwood's staff
members contribute directly to TNAT, so any financial
support for Pepperwood supports the TNAT program.
If you have any questions for the podcast, always
feel free to email us at podcast at pepperwoodpreserve
.org. And as always, I'd like to offer a big
thank you to Stephanie Antonoro, our communication
coordinator, and Holly Nduselli, our education
program manager, and the whole Pepperwood team
for supporting the production of this podcast.
But don't switch to your next podcast episode
just yet, because now it's time to play The Nature
Sound Guess Who Game. To refresh your memory,
we play a nature sound at the end of each episode,
and you have the time in between episodes to
guess or apply your knowledge or to do some research
into which animal, vegetable, or mineral made
that sound. You can email your guesses to podcast
at pepperwoodpreserve .org or comment on the
corresponding posts on our Facebook, Instagram,
or Blue Sky accounts. Now, first let's listen
back to the sound from last episode. That sound
was made by the spotted owl or Strix occidentalis.
What? The same species that Michael Galogui told
a charming story about back in episode 5? Absolutely!
That spotted owl call was recorded by Thomas
G. Sander and shared courtesy of the Cornell
Lab of Ornithology Macaulay Library. The featured
noisemaker and its brethren that inhabit Pepperwood
are part of the northern spotted owl subspecies,
Strix occidentalis corina. Spotted owl populations
in the western portion of northern California,
including where Pepperwood is located, are all
part of the northern subspecies. If you want
to find the California spotted owl, subspecies
Strix occidentalis occidentalis, you have to
look further east into the Sierra Nevada mountain
range. We'll include a link to the Cornell Lab's
range map in the show notes. I also ran across
an article about the spotted owl from the Markula
Center for Applied Ethics at the Santa Clara
University that I found very insightful, and
we'll share a link to that in the show notes
as well. The article is called The Spotted Owl
Controversy, written by Claire Andre and Manuel
Velasquez, and it presents a multifaceted history
of how spotted owl conservation efforts have
impacted the timber industry and some of the
resulting responses in public opinion. Anyone
involved in forestry can tell you that the spotted
owl, its status as a listed species, and the
implications of discovering that it inhabits
a forest is a very sensitive topic for folks
planning to harvest timber and for folks working
to conserve our dwindling old -growth forests.
Listed species often serve as an umbrella protector
for an entire ecosystem, and as a result, they
can become lightning rods for conflicts between
development and conservation. Spotted owls are
a pretty good example of this phenomenon. The
article is a quick and interesting read. Check
it out. Thank you for playing the Nature Sound
Guess Who Game. And now here comes a new sound
for you to guess between now and next episode.
Here it comes in 3, 2, 1. And here's your second
chance to listen in 3, 2, 1. Who could that be?
You'll have to wait till next episode. Thanks
again for listening and don't forget to keep
your ears tuned in to nature.