Community Corner

Kennesaw Mountain Park Receives 'Ticket to Ride' Grant

The Ticket to Ride program, supported by a $500,000 grant from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, helps students explore the outdoors by providing transportation and program support to national parks around the country.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park has been selected to receive a 2013 “Ticket to Ride” grant from the National Park Foundation (NPF), the official charity of America’s national parks.

The Ticket to Ride program, supported by a $500,000 grant from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, helps students explore the outdoors by providing transportation and program support to national parks around the country.

“Providing the means for America’s youth to experience all that our national park system has to offer is imperative,” said Neil Mulholland, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation, in a press release.

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“Disney’s support has helped make it possible for us to engage thousands of young people in life changing park experiences, and ultimately inspiring the next generation of park enthusiasts.”

Now in its second year and with continued support from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund and Disney Friends for Change, “Ticket to Ride” provides financial resources for transportation, in-park educational programming and meals that make national park field trips possible for schools across the country.

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The grant from Disney will help more than 60,000 students to experience location-based learning in their local national parks this year.

Throughout the 2013 -2014 school year, four hundred Douglas County 21st Century Community Learning Center students will be given the opportunity to learn about the natural environment as well as a key battle in the American Civil War, which occurred nearly in their back yards.

Through the Ticket to the Top project, these students will be able to reinforce the curriculum they have been given in the classroom setting through historical and environmental hikes on Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park trails.

“Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is very excited to be able to work with Douglas County School System and the students of the 21st CCLC program," said Amanda Corman, Park Ranger, in a press release.

"Through this partnership we hope to develop a lasting experience for the students and their families to learn outside of the walls of the classroom.”

For more information about Ticket to Ride, corporate partners and ways to support this and the other exceptional National Park Foundation programs, go to nationalparks.org.


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