Youth’s hard work celebrated: The young members of a TeamWorks crew resting on their latest feat of triumph, after mitigating hundreds of feet of natural corridor.[/caption]

On Thursday, August 8, 2024, the Nederland Community Center auditorium was packed with kids donning neon blue, yellow, and orange shirts. They wore their loud TeamWorks uniforms with pride, as they gleefully gathered together to celebrate the end of another successful season.

TeamWorks is a collaborative program between TEENS, Inc. and Lincoln Hills Cares, which organizes crews of youth from rural and urban environments and puts the teams to work on various nature conservation-based projects, like fire mitigation, weeding, planting, and building new trails.

The Lincoln Hills Cares Foundation (LHC) is a charitable organization aimed at providing younger generations with outdoor recreation, cultural history exploration, and workforce advancement.

“Last year when I came in here I didn’t know too many of you,” LHC CEO Jeanette Patterson said to the crowd. “But this year when I came in I feel like I was greeted by millions.”

“Our purpose at LHC is to build community, to promote outdoor equity, and to support environmental stewardships; and all of you here at TEENS, Inc. and TeamWorks have checked all the boxes.”

In addition to working on the LHC ranch, building horse trails to expand their equestrian program, this season had crews cleaning up forests all over the mountains and on the Front Range, throughout Boulder, Gilpin, and Jefferson Counties.

The TeamWorks crews of young people aged 16 to 20 maintained and constructed over four miles of trails, clearing out 340 feet of natural corridor, which included the removal of 120 rocks, building 16 rock steps and 76 feet of rock wall, burying eight timbers, cleaning 25 drains, and transplanting six plants.

60 cords of firewood were moved as part of TeamWorks’ fire mitigation efforts. 23 slash piles were removed, 25 burn piles were built, and 34 trees were cut down. Over 9.75 acres of land was also denuded of noxious weeds, with crews filling over 80 bags with removed weeds.

“This summer has been a season of growth, connection, and discovery,” TeamWorks Program Director Allison Ohringer said to the crowd, opening the celebration ceremony with a heartfelt speech.

“Many of you took on challenges that were new and unfamiliar, from tackling difficult projects to working alongside people you’ve never met before, but every single one of you embraced that with open minds and your efforts have made a lasting impact not only on the trails, parks and natural spaces that you cared for but also the communities that you served and the relationships that you all have built.

“I hope that some of you have developed a passion for conservation and a commitment to making a difference and I hope that the friendships that you’ve made here will carry on past the season and that all of these things will continue to shape your journey long after this season is over.”

Ohringer’s words definitely rang true with many of the TeamWorks participants, as building lasting friendships and becoming passionate about the environment were noted by members of the crew as the major benefits to the program.

“Best decision in my life up to this point,” 20-year-old Key Gradoz said about joining TeamWorks four years ago, after his mother forced him to get a summer job.

“I came in with a lot of anxiety and fear that I’d be in a boring corporate job where I’d be hating myself the entire time, but it is so enjoyable. It’s hard work but it’s also community.

“I also had a fascination with the environment as a kid and TeamWorks has helped me understand that the environment is a passion of mine,” Gradoz noted that he has switched his college major over to environmental science.

Guest speaker and former TeamWorks Program Director Melissa Elbert also touched upon the lasting benefits that the TeamWorks program has on those who take part in it.

“TeamWorks was a very formative program in my life, and I see the effects that it has had on me as I continue to move forward,” Elbert said.

“I deeply believe that the same is true for all of you sitting in this room today. You may already clearly see the gifts that this program has given you or those realizations may unravel slowly over time, but there are truly fewer things more special than being in an environment where we can be our whole unique, weird, and silly selves and feel really seen and appreciated.”

Those members of the TeamWorks crew who are high school graduates and who complete the program are rewarded with a scholarship for post-secondary education. Also, all TeamWorks workers are compensated with an hourly wage.

Every year one crew member is picked by the managing team of TeamWorks to receive the Osprey award and scholarship. Crew members must be high school graduates who have completed the program and embody the core tenets of the program. The crew member must also write an essay, detailing the work that they have done within the program on those core tenets.

This year the Osprey award and scholarship goes to Sumehra Alexander, who wrote an impactful essay about her personal growth through TeamWorks, especially through the core tenets of healthy risk taking and inclusion.

“Joining TeamWorks has probably been the most healthy risk I’ve taken. I was in one of the darkest times in my life and the only way for me to make change was to do something different,” Alexander said, as her speech touched upon how learning to take healthy risks coached her through the difficult decision to separate from her college career.

“I noticed my physical rejection to my environment and it took a lot of mental determination to acknowledge the feeling that I was just not supposed to be there. It’s hard to let yourself free sometimes, it feels like you’re going against your mind, but when taking risks all there is to do is the exact thing that changes your perspective.”

Alexander added that the life lessons she has learned through TeamWorks have helped to strengthen her sense of self, which has made her feel more grounded and centered in her life.

“I have been judged a lot in my life, whether that be for the way that I look or the way that I carry myself. I never expected to be included and eventually gave up on trying to let my voice be heard.

“But I saw that my actions were making me small and that I could do so much more than make myself feel bad. I realize that my voice is a tool and that speaking up can change the way you think about yourself.”

Alexander’s speech elicited cheers from the crowd, as well as tears, as the camaraderie that is formed by those TeamWorks crews who work alongside each other all summer long, becomes bittersweet at the end of the season, when friends have to say goodbye to each other.

“I’m new to TeamWorks; this is my first year, and [Sumehra] has helped me so much in the field, in understanding Colorado and understanding the work,” Fiona Farrer said, tearing up as she hugged Alexander. “That just scratches the surface of all the things she’s done for me this summer and how she’s made this place a home for me. It’s really meant a lot to start and end my day with her.”

The cheers, laughter, and joyful tears continued as the crowd soaked up every memory that came onto the screen during the slideshow. Their smiles that much bigger, their laughter made all the more exuberant by the feeling of a job well done, the feeling of becoming a strong, unified force in order to accomplish something bigger than themselves.