National environmental partnership
National Park Trust
We're proud to support the National Park Trust, our first national environmental partner, to support Symetra’s Social Impact goal to provide $150K (over three years) to fund educational programming and access to national parks for underserved youth. Dedicated to preserving the country’s national parks and to environmental education, National Park Trust is working to create a pipeline of future park stewards by connecting kids to parks.
National Park Trust’s Buddy Bison™ School Program helps more than 20,000 students in 40 states connect with parks around the country each year. More than 80% of participating students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch, the federal indicator of low income.*
National Park Trust Partnership
“We are delighted to partner with Symetra and their volunteers to annually engage three Title I schools in Washington, Iowa, and Connecticut with the many benefits of the great outdoors. These students are among the 20,000 we support each year nationwide through our Buddy Bison School Program. It's wonderful to see their excitement as they discover and explore parks in their community—many for the very first time.”
Grace Lee, Executive Director, National Park Trust
National employee engagement
Symetra focuses its support on Title I schools* in Connecticut, Iowa and Washington state, where we have a major employee presence, giving our teams opportunities to engage with the program as Buddy Bison volunteers.
Connecticut
With the help of Symetra volunteers and National Park Trust staff, 120 students from Enfield's Eli Whitney Elementary School visited Dinosaur State Park to learn about the area’s prehistoric history, explore fossilized tracks and hike on nature trails.
Iowa
Symetra and National Park Trust joined 75 third graders from Clive Learning Academy at Jester Park for a day of learning about lake ecology and native species. The students also took a virtual field trip to Shenandoah National Park.
Washington
Symetra volunteers joined National Park Trust and school staff to host 40 third and fourth graders from Seattle’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary on a three-day visit to Olympic National Park to learn first-hand how watersheds and forest ecosystems function.
Putting our values into action
“We believe that all students deserve the opportunity to experience the beauty and wonder of nature. We are proud to partner with National Park Trust to support inclusive programming that creates connectivity and increases access to the outdoors for underserved youth. Our hope is that by exposing more students from diverse backgrounds to the outdoors, we will help them develop a love of nature and a passion for preserving the environment.”
– Sharmila Swenson, VP, Public Affairs & Social Impact
Join us
Search for career opportunities at Symetra, and you could join us in volunteering in our national environmental partnership and more.
Career opportunities
*Title I, Part A provides supplemental financial assistance to school districts for children from low-income families. Its purpose is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps by allocating federal funds for education programs and services. — National Center for Education Statistics
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