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U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell spent Wednesday morning in Tucson's Saguaro National Park with elementary students from the Tohono O’Odham nation to promote the Every Kid in a Park initiative, which provides free annual passes to the national park system to every fourth grader in the country and their families.
After watching the students from the Santa Rosa Ranch School sing their morning blessing, Jewell talked with the students about the importance of spending time in nature.
Jewell said many children across the U.S. lack access to the great outdoors
"Even young children in Tucson, Ariz., which is surrounded by Saguaro National Park don’t often find the time to get outside because they’re busy, their parents are working, they’re afraid," she said.
"We want to make sure that children understand that the outdoors is not a scary dangerous place, but it’s actually a place of discovery, a place to have a lot of fun, and frankly, the best classroom, which is the one with no walls."
After handing out free parks passes to the kids, the secretary and students took off on a hike to get even closer to the saguaros and prickly pears and ocotillos that many students only read about in books.
The Federal Government has long provided free passes to the national park system to fourth grade students. This is the first year that free access was granted to their families as well.
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