Education is central to our mission to connect community members of all backgrounds to the Chicago River, and one of our most popular educational opportunities are field trips!
We offer free field trips to any school or youth group who asks -- Field trips always begin with a tour of the park (led by either staff or out docent-trained volunteers) before splitting into small groups for ~20 minute station rotations. This is where we need your help!
With so many students, we need help leading activity stations centered around ecology and nature. Stations can include seed bomb making, exploring aquatic habitat and macroinvertebrates, cleaning the river by picking up trash, and more. All stations are straight forward and fun to teach, so you can pick your preference!
If you love education, engaging students with the environment, or just want to hang out with some cool folks, sign up today! Most of our field trips occur in the Spring and Fall. We will update this opportunity with new field trip dates as they are scheduled.
In addition to these field trips, we'll use this opportunity to post any public programs we might need help with. Monthly fishing events, partner events, etc... Please be sure to read the description of each event before signing up!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email rangers@urbanriv.org
September 13th (10am-12pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION: Honeycomb Project families visiting the Wild Mile. Up to 40 individuals, mix of kids and adults, for tour and activities. Three stations, ideally macros, seed bombs, and microscopes!
September 17th (11am-12:30pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION: 60 Wheeling High School students. Seed bombing, macros, and third activity.
September 23rd (10-11:30am) PROGRAM FACILITATION: 14 High Schoolers from enrichment program at Mount Carmel High School. Microscopes/Macros and 360 cam fish ID at the Wild Mile.
September 24th (10am-11:30pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION (about 54 students) Von Steuben visiting River Park. Seed bombs, macros, and bird watching.
September 24th (12:30-2pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION (about 57 students) Von Steuben High School visiting River Park. Seed bombs, macros, and bird watching.
September 25th (1:30-3pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION: 28 Freshman students from Depaul University coming to the Wild Mile. There will be a tour, macroinvertebrates, seed bombing, and trash pickup.
September 27th (10-2): PROGRAM FACILITATION: Wild Mile Fishing! This is a public program we lead monthly, and we have found that it requires us to be very hands-on. The main task here is making sure people don't hook themselves, helping people handle fish safely, getting lines un-snagged, putting worms on hooks, and informing the public about sustainable fishing techniques and regulations.
September 27th (5:30-8:30): EVENT FACILITATION: We have a group called Flower Girls Meet hosting a portrait photoshoot on the Wild Mile! They'd like a site facilitator to help answer questions about the facilities day-of. They'll have about 50 participants joining, which will be distributed along the Wild Mile for portraits. This will be a big question-answering, docent-y sort of role. Also, their rain date is October 4th, same time frame! So if you sign up and we need to reschedule, I'll reach out and let you know.
October 2nd (10am-12pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION: Lake Bluff Elementary School 6th graders (45) visiting the Wild Mile. There will be a tour, macroinvertebrates, seed bombing, and buoyancy or bird watching activity.
October 3rd (10am-12pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION: Lake Bluff Elementary School 6th graders (45) Pt.2 visiting the Wild Mile. There will be a tour, macroinvertebrates, seed bombing, and buoyancy or bird watching activity.
October 18th (10am-12pm) PROGRAM FACILITATION: Honeycomb Project families visiting the Wild Mile. Up to 40 individuals, mix of kids and adults, for tour and activities. Three stations, ideally macros, seed bombs, and microscopes!
October 25th: PROGRAM FACILITATION: Wild Mile Fishing! This is a public program we lead monthly, and we have found that it requires us to be very hands-on. The main task here is making sure people don't hook themselves, helping people handle fish safely, getting lines un-snagged, putting worms on hooks, and informing the public about sustainable fishing techniques and regulations.
