Anna Giang and Ashley Tovar, who will be juniors at Willow Glen High School this fall, were among 61 California high school students who traveled to Eldorado National Forest in Placerville in May for the Youth Environmental Leadership Conference. The students attending the four-day conference were sponsored by local American Legion posts. At the conference the girls learned about environmental sciences and conservation from U.S. Forest Service staff.

"Every day they gave us lessons in how they run the forest," Ashley says. "I enjoyed the talk on what they do for jobs. I didn't know there were so many jobs in the forest service."

The teens also enjoyed nighttime activities such as stargazing through telescopes while forest service staff pointed out various constellations.

"I didn't know what the Big Dipper looked like" before that night, Anna says.

Students took day trips to Granite Valley to rock climb and to the Hazel Creek Forest Health Project, where fire prevention officers showed them how the forest service handles controlled burns.

"They taught us that you need to clear brush 10 feet around your house if you live in the forest so your house isn't endangered by fire," Anna says.

The American Legion developed the conference with the forest service to help high school students understand the business of land management. Students are encouraged to talk to their peers about what they learned at the conference. This is considered an important part of the program.

"I want to go back next year," Anna says, "but they don't recommend it because they teach the same thing. They don't recommend that seniors go because seniors can't go back to high school in the fall to tell other people about their experience."

Both Ashley and Anna say they bonded with the other students at the conference.

"There were lots of people there from all over California, so we got to meet some really cool people," Anna says.

"I'm still in contact with a lot of the people I met," Ashley says.

Of the two Willow Glen students, Ashley claims to be more comfortable in the great outdoors.

"I go camping and backpacking with my dad," she says.

"I don't really do that much outdoors," Anna says. "The only time I've been camping was with the high school cross-country team."

Still, Anna says, she's grateful for the experience.

"I've been meaning to write the American Legion a thank-you letter," she adds.