Crabapple Gang To Work With Seattle Youth
During Spring Break; Environmental Preservation Planned

February 26, 2002
University Park, Pa. – Salmon, rainforests, and underprivileged youth seemingly have little in common - that is, without a group of Penn State students out to make life better for each of them.

            This spring break, 10 Penn State students known as the Crabapple Gang will travel to Seattle, where they will spend their vacation time heeding President Bush’s call to “become citizens, not spectators,” as they positively impact the nation’s youth while doing their part to preserve national resources.

            The group will start its week with both underprivileged youth and Penn State alumni from the Seattle area as they work to preserve salmon habitat. There, they will work with EarthCorp, a group that regularly plants native greenery along stream banks that flow into the Puget Sound, thus increasing the oxygen content available to the migrating salmon species in the region.

            “If we can help by making waterways cleaner and more breathable, then I feel like we’re contributing something,” said Brady Smith, a senior horticulture major in the Schreyer Honors College and project organizer.

            But the salmon aren’t the only ones this group hopes to impact.

            “We hope working with the youth and the interaction with alumni and students will awaken an interest in them for learning and community building, and empower them to realize that they have to power to make a change in both their communities and in the world,” Smith added.

            The Crabapple Gang will then travel to the Olympic National Forest where the students will engage in projects involving soil erosion control. “The benefits of this project are immeasurable, as we will experience learning opportunities not found in any classroom. The contribution to the environment will be both rewarding and inspirational,” Smith said.

The Crabapple Gang is in its second year of existence. Last year, the Penn State group traveled to California where it worked to preserve the ecosystem around coastal redwoods.

**aek**

Contact:
Allison Kessler, Department of Public Information, (814) 865-7517 or akessler@psu.edu.
Brady Smith, project organizer, (814) 234-1827 or bps134@psu.edu.