Yosemite National Park rangers through late December had sworn in 22,600 Junior Rangers, a record for the highest number of Junior Rangers sworn in in a year.

Each of these young people completed their duties, either by attending a Junior Ranger program or completing a booklet, and took an oath to continue to “Explore, Learn, and Protect” Yosemite National Park. Each of the Junior Rangers received a Junior Ranger badge. The Junior Ranger Program in Yosemite aims to engage children as stewards for one of America’s most beloved national parks.

The origins of the Junior Ranger program began in 1930 with the Junior Ranger Nature School. An article in Yosemite Nature Notes published in June 1937 states, “The 1936 summer meeting of the Yosemite Junior Nature School showed an increase in the numbers… with a total enrollment of 410 children.”

The Junior Ranger Program is one of many educational programs in Yosemite National Park designed to reach out to young people to create the next generation of park stewards. Yosemite partners with the University of California at Merced and NatureBridge on many innovative and groundbreaking programs. Many of these programs are designed to reach out to young people with diverse backgrounds in underserved communities who have never had the opportunity to visit Yosemite National Park. These programs include Adventure Risk Challenge, Yosemite Leadership Program Summer Internship, and Parks as Classroom. The park also offers distance learning programs utilizing video conference technology for schools that are unable to arrange a field trip to the park.

The National Park Service celebrates its 100th Anniversary this year. The centennial focuses on youth and connecting new visitors to national parks. Yosemite National Park joins other parks across the country in reaching out to the next generation of park stewards.