Following up on last year’s trip, the 2014 Four Stops, One Destination tour will take seven Latino college students to four (okay, it’s actually six this year) national parks to engage Latinos with our nation’s parks and raise awareness about the need to protect these treasures from oil and gas development for future generations.
During the 1,400-mile trip, the students will produce a video blog and share their experience through social media (#4stops1destination) from each location. They’ll be virtual tour guides showing the beauty and grandeur of each of these parks and educating us all about what they learned firsthand about the energy development threats.
STOPS ON THE TOUR INCLUDE:
- Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado, July 12)
- Dinosaur National Monument (Colorado, July 13-14)
- Arches National Park (Utah, July 15)
- Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado, July 16)
- Chaco Culture National Historic Park (New Mexico, July 17)
- Great Sand Dunes National Park (Colorado, July 18).
WHY THIS TOUR
The Hispanic population is expected to reach more than 100 million by 2050. As the Latino population grows, they are in a position to become the stewards for tomorrow. It’s increasingly important that Latinos become aware of these national treasures, their location, accessibility, and the threat against them.
Through this tour we will increase awareness of national parks, their accessibility and their safety within the Hispanic population. Unfortunately, each of the parks the students will visit is under some sort of threat in relation to gas and oil development.
For more information about the specific threats to each park, please see our Media Kit.
THE STUDENTS
Luke Miguel Argleben
Christopher Newport University
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Argleben, 19, is pursuing a degree in biochemistry. He served as a field volunteer oil and gas activity researcher for NCPA, as a panelist at the “Latinos Exploring Treasured Landscapes” congressional briefing in Washington and as a member of the inaugural Four Stops, One Destination Tour. He is passionate about public lands protection.
Lesly Caballero
Humboldt State University
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Caballero, 21, is from Sonoma County California and is pursuing a degree in environmental management and planning. She has interned with Latino Outdoors, Environment for the Americas, Point Blue Conservation Science, the National Park Service doing community outreach and bilingual environmental education.
Joe T. Camacho, Jr.
University of Washington
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Camacho, 22, will begin his graduate degree toward teaching high school geosciences this fall. He is the current president of the Humboldt State University chapter of Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. He has a passion for education and a desire to increase youth involvement in the geosciences.
Roger Espinoza
Western State Colorado University
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Espinoza, 23, is majoring in environment and sustainability with an emphasis in water. He’s been on many trips to the outdoors. He’s also completed field monitoring regarding water quality in rivers, tree dating, tracking and monitoring beaver activity and gathering snowpack accummulation data.
Adrian Hernandez
Santa Ana Community College
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Hernandez, 19, is studying civil engineering with an emphasis on water resource and environmental engineering. Originally born in Mexico. He serves as the President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Chair of the Civil Engineering Advancement Association Committee at Santa Ana Community College.
Jessica Loya
University of California, Santa Cruz
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Loya, 21, is pursuing a degree in environmental studies and economics. Growing up in East Los Angeles, her interest in nature and the impact that humans have on the environment was sparked by the scarcity of nature and the lack of education on environmental issues in her local region.
Zoraida Martinez
University of California, Riverside
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Martinez, 23, is majoring in Spanish Linguistics and Chicano Studies. Interested in becoming a Spanish teacher, Martinez has camped on occassion in the L.A. National Forest and looks to apply these experiences to her teaching career.
