The Wild Child Crew (a youth nature club) was identified by the Healthy for Life Action Team as an action, that when combined with other actions in our community, has a reasonable chance of making a difference in healthy weight in our community.  The club will combine physical activity and fostering a love and respect for nature to encourage outdoor activity in children.  This is a new program in our community.

The audience for the Wild Child Crew are children in grades Kindergarten - 5th grade.  The Wild Child Crew aims to make a difference at the individual/interpersonal behavior level.  Implementation will take place in Jackson County at easily accessible and safe outdoor locations such as the Greenway Trail. 

The partners for this Youth Nature Club include:

Evaluation Plan:

We plan to evaluate the impact of Youth Nature Club through the use of Results-Based Accountability^TM to monitor specific performance measures. We will be monitoring How Much, How Well and/or Better Off Performance Measures. Our evaluation activities will be tracked in the Work Plan table, above. 

Sustainability Plan:

The following is our sustainability plan for Youth Nature Club:

• Use program performance measures to ensure ongoing effectiveness and demonstrate success
  • The number of youth who participate and what age category they fall into will be evaluated to measure success.  If numbers are low, that will be evaluated to improve effectiveness.  
• Communicate and engage diverse community leaders and organizations
  • We seek to recruit a bilingual co-leader for the group to increase participation across the county and improve inclusion
• Identify champions who strongly support the program
  • An on-going partnership with Western Carolina University Parks and Rec Management ensures that the program will change annually, preventing youth from tiring of the activities
• Increase community awareness on the issue and demonstrate the value of the program
  • Through local media outlets, promotion of the activities and including statistics on the decline of youth spending time outdoors will hopefully spark a revival of youth spending time outdoors.  The evaluations completed at the end of each activity will guide program planning and be shared with the community about the effectiveness and value of the program. 

2020 Updates

Spring 2020 - Janelle Messer began working with 4 students from the Parks and Rec Management Planning course at Western Carolina University in February.  Students were planning to host a nature event with rock painting on April 3, 2020 at Bicentennial Park in Sylva.  The event had to be cancelled due to COVID-19, as WCU cancelled classes and students did not return after their Spring Break ended in March.  Further, the JCDPH suspended all outreach activities to be in line with public health guidelines and the Governor's executive orders. 

Fall 2020 - JCDPH partnered with 3 students from the Parks and Rec Management Planning course at Western Carolina University.  The 3 students worked diligently to plan a nature program for students.  The First Baptist Church of Sylva had been hosting a Study Buddies program that was essentially a day camp for 35 students in grades Kindergarten - 8th grade while virtual learning was happening.  Jackson County Public Schools went to in-person learning, except for Wednesdays, in September, so the Study Buddies program moved to an after school program.  The WCU students rolled with the scheduled changes and planned the event for Friday, November 6th from 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM at Bicentennial Park in Sylva.  Study Buddies participants (22 total) walked to the park with their adult chaperones and participated in the one-hour educational event.  Students learned the 7 principles of Leave No Trace and the accompanying hand signals.  They then participated in a nature scavenger hunt and had a great time.  At the conclusion of the scavenger hunt, the group came back together and played two physical activities where they had to run from tree to tree or chase each other.  These games were educational.  Social distancing and mask-wearing were implemented during this event, by all.  Below, a child holds a small caterpillar in his hands at the Wild Child Crew event

2019 Updates

Western Carolina University Parks and Recreation Program Planning and Evaluation students began working on the Youth Nature Club, which they named the Wild Child Crew, in their Fall 2019 semester.  Two events were planned, one at the Cullowhee Community Garden and another at the Jackson County Greenway. Even with guidance from their professor and Health Department staff, the students struggled with event planning and especially effective marketing.  The first event at the Cullowhee Community Garden did not turn out any participants.  The second event hosted at the Jackson County Greenway had three participants, though they were younger than the Kindergarten - 5th grade target age.  The children participated in a walk and a nature scavenger hunt.  

The Western Carolina University students did create a great logo for our program going forward.  The Healthy for Life Action Team will continue to work with students to ensure success with this program. 

To include a wider variety of Jackson County's population, all promotional materials will be available in English and Spanish, and an interpreter will be available on-site at the 2020 events.