It is our goal to make the Conservation Ambassador Program (CAP) available to all students regardless of financial circumstances. Thanks to generous funding sources, the cost of CAP ranges from no cost to a reduced fee.

No Cost:

CAP is free to...

1. students attending a qualifying school (i.e., Title 1 schools or schools with >50% of the student population qualifying for free/reduced lunch; check if your school qualifies here: https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/)
   or
2. students who qualify for free/reduced lunch themselves

Reduced Fee:

For students who do not meet the above requirements, CAP program fees are determined by a sliding scale that takes into account annual household income and the number of claimed dependents. Additional financial assistance may also be provided on a case by case basis. See the sliding fee scale below:

Environmental Action Project Stipends:

Thanks to a Giving Day campaign, we are able to provide need-based stipends to a subset of CAP students! This means you could get paid as you work on your environmental action projects. These stipends will be awarded based on financial need.

What We Provide to All CAP Students:

• Field experience activity supplies
• Field experience food and lodging
• Field experience transportation
• Community project guidance and multi-layered mentorship for 9 months
• Some field equipment supplies for community project
• Conference registration fees for student, community partner and one adult and poster printing

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Laura Cisneros (NRCA Director) at laura.cisneros@uconn.edu at any time.

Where:

The field experience is held at the University of Connecticut’s Storrs Campus. During the one-week training experience in July, students will stay in college dorms and eat in the dining halls. With the 2,100 acre UConn Forest as a classroom, students will explore various components of the natural environment, as well as nearby lakes, streams, and wetlands.

CAP students will stay in a residence hall with gender-separated floors of the building or on separate floor wings, and will have gender-separated and gender-neutral bathrooms and shower rooms. All CAP students will share common areas of the residence hall for meetings and activities. At check-in, CAP students will learn which dorm room they will be staying in. The graduate student and Difference Maker Mentor staff will stay in the dorms to supervise CAP students.

Directions: Details on where to go for check-in and pick-up will be provided in enrollment materials.

When:

• Check-in: July 13, 2025 (Sunday) between 11:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. outside resident hall (details and directions to specific resident hall included in enrollment material)
• Pick-up: On July 19, 2025 (Saturday), families and friends of CAP students are invited to attend the field experience closing ceremony at 9:00 a.m. (details and directions to specific location provided in enrollment materials). Check-out of the dorm will follow the closing ceremony.

Typical Day at the CAP Field Experience:

CAP Field Experience At-A-Glance:

Items to Bring:

Each day will be packed with fun activities! You should expect to spend a lot of the day outdoors and being active, including walking and hiking throughout the day. Also, keep in mind the potential for variable weather. When packing, choose items that can get dirty, are comfortable, and provide appropriate cover for walking through forests. We suggest the following:

Clothing: Comfortable, casual clothing is appropriate for most sites and activities. Please remember that you will be working with university professionals – we encourage you to dress in a manner that is respectful to students and staff members. Also, please keep in mind the potential for variable weather and for varied temperatures within buildings (e.g., it might be hot outside but cold in an air-conditioned building). We encourage you to bring extra clothes for times when you get dirty and would like to change during the day. Please consider the following suggestions and site-specific expectations for clothing items:

• Sneakers/hiking shoes (e.g., comfortable shoes that are good for doing a lot of walking and can get muddy)
• Water shoes
• Hat
• Swimming suit
• Clothes appropriate for outdoor activity and fieldwork (clothing that can get dirty)
  • 7+ pairs of field pants
  • 3+ pairs of field shorts (you will wear pants more often than shorts)
  • 7+ t-shirts
  • 3+ long sleeve shirts,
  • 1+ sweatshirt(s)
• Comfortable clothes for indoor activities to change into after field activities
• Rain coat
• One nice outfit for the closing ceremony presentation

Personal Items:

• Toiletries (e.g., toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc.)
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Bug repellant
• Medications (labeled)
• Shower caddie
• Extra set of contacts/glasses
• Towel for lake swimming

Other Items:

• Laundry detergent (optional)
• Alarm clock (optional)
• Backpack
• Pens/pencils
• Notebook/paper
• Laptop (optional)
• Water bottles
• Camera (optional)
• Fan (rooms will not have A/C)

Please note that while the program does not prohibit students from bringing cell phones, they are to be used in an appropriate setting (i.e., in dorm rooms in the evening after daily activities) and maintained by the student. Students will not be allowed to use these devices during daily activities. Neither the NRCA nor UConn is responsible for any lost, stolen or damaged personal items.

If you need help getting any of the suggested items above, please email Laura Cisneros (NRCA Director) at laura.cisneros@uconn.edu for assistance.

Items NOT to Bring:

Most of the housing necessities you will need are provided for you while at the field experience, including:

• Pillows/bed linens (unless you want your own pillow)
• Blankets
• Food (food and snacks will be provided)

Students are NOT permitted to bring TVs or appliances such as microwaves, refrigerators, or air conditioners. Students should leave the following items at home:

• Car/bike
• Video games
• TVs, microwave, A/C units or other appliances

As part of your enrollment forms (specifically the Medical History Records Form), we will ask you to indicate allergies and physical exercise limitations. Administration of medication will be the responsibility of the participant. Only bring as much medication as is reasonably needed during the week. Medical kits, supplies, and certain permitted over-the-counter medications will be provided to students, if needed.

UConn routinely accommodates a wide range of special meal requirements, which you can indicate on your enrollment forms as well. We will also make sure to accommodate any food requirements for snacks and meals that occur outside of the UConn dinning halls.

Each CAP student has the opportunity to carry out a local environmental action project. But you won't be alone! You will receive multi-layered mentorship support from an undergraduate student Difference Maker Mentor and a local community partner. You will also have extra guidance, support and resources from Dr. Laura Cisneros (NRCA Director) and a graduate student mentor.

The projects will be tailored to your unique interests and local community need. The goal is for the project to have a positive impact or benefit to your community (as identified by you and your community partner). How much time you commit to your project can be very flexible to accommodate your schedule, and you can gradually work on your project from July 2025 to April 2026.

We make every effort to support students in identifying environmental actions they are passionate about and help students identify potential community partners during and shortly after the field experience. Students are welcome to contact the Laura Cisneros (NRCA Director) at laura.cisneros@uconn.edu to chat about environmental action ideas or potential community partners.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept applications from students that are currently in 12th grade (planning to graduate in Spring 2023) as CAP participants need to be in high school through April 2026.

→ Field Experiences Resources

→ Environmental Action Project Resources