Montezuma Castle National Monument Receives Field Trip Grant From The National Park Foundation

Date: March 10, 2016
Contact: Mary Ontiveros, 928-567-3322 x 228

Camp Verde, AZ (March 9, 2016) – Montezuma Castle National Monument is one of 186 federal sites selected to receive a 2015 field trip grant from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America's national parks. The grant is designed to provide funding for local fourth grade classes to visit Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well and Tuzigoot national monuments and receive their free fourth grade annual park passes.

This grant, part of the Foundation's Open OutDoors for Kids program, supports the White House youthinitiative Every Kid in a Park.

"It is inspiring to see the National Park Foundation and many other partners step up to support our goal of getting fourth graders and their families into parks, public lands and waters that belong to all Americans," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. "These generous grants will ensure children across the country have an opportunity to experience the great outdoors in their community while developing a lifelong connection to our nation's land, water and wildlife."

National Park Foundation grants have made it possible for more than 400,000 students (including this year's grantees) to visit national parks and other public lands and waters.

"We want to help people everywhere, from all backgrounds, discover how national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other public lands and waters are relevant to their lives, and the best way to do that is to give people the opportunity to experience them first-hand," said Will Shafroth, president of the National Park Foundation. "Through our grants that provide funding for transportation and in-park learning, we are able to connect youth and their families to these special places and inspire people across the country to find their park which, in turn, can foster a lifelong connection to all that public lands and waters have to offer."

The park visit occurs in three parts, with the first being a classroom visit.The class explores rock art and how it relates to communication. Then students receive a plain canvas bag to decorate and try to interpret other students' art message on their bag.The main activity is a field trip to Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well and Tuzigoot National Monuments.Youth complete an activity guide while at the sites.After the field trip during a second classroom visit, the students review the activity guides and explore different parks through the www.FindYourPark.com website.

"We are honored to be part of the national "Every Kid in a Park" initiative and encourage fourth graders and their friends and families to visit their public lands and waters," said Mary Ontiveros, Training Specialist for Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments."There is so much more to education than what can be learned from text books. Let's continue to open the hearts and minds of our youth through "parks as classrooms" and develop stewardship and conservation ethics of future generations."

For the full list of grantees, and their projects, visit www.nationalparks.org/everykidinapark.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION

The National Park Foundation is the official charity of America's national parks and nonprofit partner to the National Park Service. Chartered by Congress in 1967, the National Park Foundation raises private funds to help PROTECT more than 84 million acres of national parks through critical conservation and preservation efforts, CONNECT all Americans with their incomparable natural landscapes, vibrant culture and rich history, and INSPIRE the next generation of park stewards. Find out more and become a part of the national park community at www.nationalparks.org.