Angelina Beautiful/Clean

🎉♻️ That's a Wrap on ECO Camp 2026! ♻️🎉

We wrapped up an incredible week of learning, exploring, and discovering ways we can all become better stewards of our environment.

Before anything else, we want to extend a huge THANK YOU to our volunteers, guest speakers, community partners, and supporters who helped make this camp possible. From setup and planning to leading activities and supervising campers, your time and dedication made all the difference. We simply could not have done it without you!

For our final day, campers visited the City of Lufkin Recycling Center to learn what can and cannot be recycled right here in Angelina County. Students discovered that residents can recycle aluminum cans, cardboard, paper, plastic bottles, jars, and jugs, helping keep valuable materials out of our landfill.

One of the highlights of the tour was seeing the recycling baler in action also known to our campers as the "Mega Squisher!" 🤪Watching mountains of plastic, paper, and cans get compressed into giant bales ready for transport was definitely a crowd favorite!

Campers also learned that recycled materials can become all kinds of useful products, including pencils, frisbees, backpacks, stress balls, and much more. It was a great way to see firsthand how recycling gives materials a second life.

Throughout the week, these students learned about pollinators, trees, litter prevention, reducing our waste, recycling, and environmental stewardship. Most importantly, they learned that even small actions can make a big difference. We hope they take that learning moment into the rest of their lives! 🐝🌲🌷♻

Today our ECO Camp students explored the incredible world of trees and forestry! We discovered just how important trees are for every living creature!

With help from local forestry professionals Texas A&M Forest Service, campers learned how to determine a tree's age by counting growth rings, created their own tree cookie projects, participated in an interactive forest competition game, and discovered the important role trees play in our everyday lives. Students also learned how sustainable forestry helps provide the products we use while protecting our natural resources for future generations with our friends from West Fraser Angelina! Thank you for investing in the future of our community West Fraser! We had so much fun exploring each process of what you do!

Thank you to Keep Texas Beautiful and (H-E-B) for supporting hands-on environmental education through the Our Texas, Our Future Grant Program. Opportunities like these help inspire the next generation of environmental stewards right here in Angelina County.

More photos and camp highlights coming soon but we couldn't help but keep the fun growing! 🌲🌲🌲