NATCHEZ — Meet Alia and Raheem Frank, Josh McNair and Ashley Morrison.

While most high schoolers are either in summer school or lounging around the house during their summer break, these four are hard at work at the St. Catherine’s Creek Wildlife Refuge as members of the Youth Conservation Corps.

This summer they’ll be spending their weekdays in the sun, mowing grass, picking up trash and working with wild animals. But they don’t mind. To them, it’s all a learning experience and they’re having a blast doing it.

“I haven’t been around a lot of YCC’s, but the one’s I’ve been around, you never know if they’re going to show up every day,” St. Catherine’s Creek Wildlife Refuge Manager Bob Strader said. “But it’s smooth this year. They come to work everyday excited.”

Both Alia and Raheem attend Natchez High. Raheem is a rising sophomore and is involved in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. Alia is a rising senior and plays center on the basketball team. On July 12 she will be representing the Bulldogs in the North-South Mississippi All-Star game at Mississippi College.

Morrison is a rising senior at Adams County Christian School and plays basketball.

McNair is a rising senior at Chamberlain-Hunt Military Boarding School in Port Gibson. At school, McNair is involved in ROTC and has done well running track and field, placing sixth in the state in the high jump.

Part of the reason McNair said he is working at the refuge is because of his school, where he’s required to work a certain amount of hours in order to keep his scholarship.

Working hard

For most of the YCC members, the tasks required of them are relatively new.

“They’re great,” supervisor Glen McManus said. “All this stuff s new to them. A lot of them have never been on a riding lawn mower. They’ve seen more animals than I’m sure they’ve ever seen.

“Alia has never been on a lawnmower, and now she’s riding that John Deer lawnmower like she’s been doing it all her life,” he said.

From day to day, their tasks range from cutting grass, cleaning the trails, picking up trash and taking care of animals.

Even though they spend most of their day outside, the four YCC members also spend time indoors, getting out of the heat while learning about various aspects of the refuge.

During their time working at the refuge they’ve had opportunities to learn about how to manage water, law enforcement on the refuge and the Indian village.

McManus said he would also like to add a leadership program to the YCC member’s workload to help instill leadership skills.

Family connection

McNair, Morrison and the Franks all applied to work at the refuge and were selected at random.

As fate would have it, siblings Raheem and Alia were selected, as was their cousin, Morrison.

Although they hang out all the time, Morrison said working with her cousins is has been great.

“It’s wonderful working with them because she’s my best friend and he’s my cousin,” Morrison said. “We joke around a lot.”

Successful supervisor

One reason the workers have been so productive this summer can be traced back to McManus, Strader said.

“He’s been great. One of the things we’re stressing is safety. If it’s a question of getting a job done quickly or safety, it’s safety every time.

“Everything they do is with safety first, learning and getting the job done. Everything is first class.”