LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 14 A love of the outdoors leads to a love of the Earth and a sense of responsibility about her protection. This is the most important thing I've learned in my six- teen years of being in nature, and it's a message that I hope to share with as many people as possible. My name is Jenna Audlin. I'm a junior at Saranac Lake High School as well as an author and naturalist. I've always been passionate about nature and the environ- ment, and I embrace that love of nature in everything I do. My love of nature took root when I was three and my grandparents signed me up for my first nature program. A few years later, when I was seven, I moved to Colorado. My parents were surprised to discover that there weren't any similar opportunities in our new town, so we decided to start our own nature club with the help of our local nature center. That was when I created my first book. The nature center's director had made a small pocket guide called the Explore More Challenge, but it wasn't made for kids. I wanted something that was bigger and that I could color in. So, my mom and I made an activity book for kids like me and my nature club friends to explore in our local watershed. It was distributed to all my peers at school, and the other third graders in sur- rounding towns. When I moved to the Adirondacks a few years ago, I knew I wanted to modify the book for this area. The new version is the Explore More Challenge for Kids and is made to encourage young kids and families to get outside and explore the Adirondacks. The book has five challenges: hiking, birding, wildlife, plants, and respectful recreation. Each topic has fun activi- ties, coloring pages, journal prompts, and nature jokes that all tie into adventures in the Tri-Lakes area. Along with the book, I began creating YouTube vid- eos through my channel, @TheExploreMoreChallenge. It features tons of short videos with fun facts, animal antics, climate skits, and nature crafts. I have a lot of fun filming videos for the channel. Not only is it a great creative outlet for me, it is also a great way for people to learn about nature in a fun way. Writing this book has given me so many great op- portunities, from book signings and speaking engage- ments to radio ads promoting my book and its spon- sors on Lake FM and Adirondack 105. In fact, I was able to do the radio ads through a grant from Adirondack Frontier. I've learned a lot about public outreach in do- ing this, which I really enjoy. It's interesting to see how to reach out to people and how it constantly creates new opportunities. I also have had the pleasure of working at the Up & Comer: Explore More! by Jenna Audlin

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