Secretary Jewell Celebrates Every Kid in a Park with Native Students

Press Release

As part of the Obama Administration's Every Kid in a Park initiative, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today visited Saguaro National Park with a class of about 25 Native students from Santa Rosa Ranch School -- funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) -- at the Tohono O'odham Nation. Announced by President Obama earlier this year, the program connects the next generation to the great outdoors by providing free passes to fourth-grade students and their families at more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters, including national parks, wildlife refuges, and national forests and grasslands.

Secretary Jewell and Bureau of Indian Education Director Dr. Charles "Monty' Roessel presented the students with their passes and participated in educational activities, including building petroglyphs out of clay.

"The students visiting Saguaro National Park today with their Every Kid in a Park passes learned about local history and culture while enjoying one of our nation's most majestic desert parks," said Secretary Jewell. "Using our public lands as living classrooms is one of the ways the Obama Administration is working to ensure all students, including Native students, have the tools they need for a bright future."

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