On April 25th, five third grade classes totaling 107 students from Canyon de Chelly School of the Navajo Nation in Chinle, Arizona, participated in the park’s Junior Ranger program.
The teachers used the Junior Ranger workbook as an assignment in the classroom prior to visiting the park. Once in the park, the third graders participated in a brief discussion with a ranger about the National Park Service mission and the Junior Ranger's three mottos – Explore, Learn and Protect.
They also took a tour of the Hubbell Home, visited the trading post, where they watched the park’s master weaver, Mary Henderson Begay, weaving her rug, and explored around the Hubbell grounds. The Navajo people hold a strong cultural and ancestral tie to Hubbell Trading Post. The students now wonder who of their relatives have traded with the Hubbells.
Having completed the Junior Ranger workbook, all 107 students took the Junior Ranger pledge. Congratulations to the third grade class of Canyon de Chelly School, the Navajo Nation and the National Park Service – which now has 107 new Junior Rangers to help preserve and protect our parks.
