“I feel a special bond with my Nature Awareness friends and mentors.  I'm very grateful that I was able to participate in the Riekes Nature Awareness program. Connecting with nature has been a life-changing experience for me. I wrote The Budding Naturalist's Guide to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum with the goal of encouraging young people to connect with nature. I think young people having a relationship with the natural world is incredibly important to saving the environment. The Riekes Center Nature Awareness programs helped me create this relationship with nature and I am looking forward to passing it along to others.”