Community Corner

Rye Brook Teen Takes Part in NYC Sandy Recovery Project

Jeff Sohn's essay was selected from submissions in a contest for a weeklong summer service project.

On Monday, Oct. 29th, 2012, when Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New York City and New Jersey, and residents of Rye were not spared from the storm's wrath.  Rye Brook's Jeff Sohn was moved enough to write an essay on the topic afterward.

Fast forward to June, when Sohn was a part of a crew of student volunteers who worked to help restore parks severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy. This past week a crew of 18 teens that included Sohn was sponsored by American Eagle Outfitters. The group of young people participated in the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) Sandy Recovery Project.

The teens were all winners of an online contest in which they were invited to submit essays. Voters decided where to send student volunteers for the weeklong summer service project, choosing the National Parks of New York Harbor damaged by Superstorm Sandy as a location.

Sohn is one of 18 young people whose essay was picked from submissions across the country ones from Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Maryland. Sohn worked with a crew to restore parks severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

“We’re extremely grateful to American Eagle Outfitters for sponsoring this exemplary crew of young people,” said Dale Penny the Student Conservation Association President and CEO in the release. 

Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The overall summer-long SCA Sandy Recovery Project will employ 200 New York-area young people to work on recovery projects in the region’s national parks.

High school students aged 15-19 seeking to join the SCA Sandy Recovery Project can learn about the local environment and receive green job readiness training by applying at www.thesca.org/sandy.

Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Student Conservation Association provides high school and college students with service opportunities ion public lands in all 50 states, from urban communities to national parks and forests. According to SCA, more than 4,000 SCA members annually render over two million hours of service to America's public lands.


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