Earlier this summer, CARPC Senior Environmental Resources Planner Matt Noone partnered with the State Cartographer’s Office to lead a hands-on mapping training for eight local high school students in Sustain Dane’s Powerful Teen Leaders summer program, which prepares Madison’s Northside teens for future careers and connects them with job opportunities.
Over three half-day sessions, students learned the basics of cartography, collected tree data at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton using a field mapping tool on their smartphones, and uploaded their findings into Google My Maps to visualize and analyze the results. They also created custom maps of their favorite places, from restaurants and state parks to beaches and sports arenas, and toured UW–Madison’s Science Hall, the Map Library (home to some of the state’s oldest and most historic maps), and the Memorial Union.
The project gave students a real-world glimpse into how mapping technology supports environmental planning—work CARPC does every day to protect natural resources, guide smart land use, and help communities prepare for the future. By letting students collect and analyze their own data, we hoped to spark curiosity about careers in planning, environmental science, and other fields that shape a more sustainable world.
The mapping experience was just one of many career exposure opportunities in the Powerful Teen Leaders program. Throughout the summer, the group also visited organizations such as the UW Arboretum, EPIC, Exact Sciences, Dane County Landfill, and Operation Fresh Start. Many activities focused on sustainability, and in their final week, participants will present to friends and family about what they learned and how the program influenced them.
