Shelby 6-year-old is semifinalist in international nature competition

SHELBY — Slayter Bailey is a few steps away from a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Bailey, a soon-to-be 7-year-old Shelby youth, is currently competing in the semifinals of the Jr. Ranger Competition — a free, international contest for kids ages 4-12, which benefits the National Wildlife Federation.

The competition is designed to recognize young environmental leaders that demonstrate commitment to conservation, outdoor education and public service. It is ran by Colossal, a nationally registered professional fundraiser.

Three substantial prizes await the winner, including $20,000, an opportunity to learn from wildlife expert and television personality Jeff Corwin and an appearence in Ranger Rick Magazine with the title of 2025 Jr. Ranger.

Bailey began the competition with somewhere between 80,000 to 100,000 other children, all aspiring to be a Jr. Ranger. Moving his way through the contest, he is now one of 128 kids remaining.

To advance to the finals, Bailey must receive the largest vote total in his current bracket, which includes seven other competitors. Voting for the semifinal round will close Thursday at 10 p.m., with the final round concluding one week later. The winner should be announced by August.

Bailey has his own voting page, found here. All verified Facebook users can place a daily free vote for a contestant or make a monetary donation towards the NWF on behalf of a contestant. Each dollar equals one vote. Donations are tax deductible.

Every few days the contest offers a special double vote day, which means free votes are worth two votes and monetary donations are also worth double.

North County reporter Hayden Gray conducted a Q&A interview with Bailey and his parents, Kyle and Carli Bailey, to learn more about the 6-year-old’s love for nature.

Q&A with Slayter Bailey

Gray: What is your favorite thing about nature?

Bailey: My favorite thing about nature is learning about animals. Sharks are my favorite animal. I love learning new facts about them and sharing them with other people.

Gray: What are some of your favorite things to do in nature?

Bailey: I love to go hiking, camping and fishing with my family. My favorite place to camp is East Harbor State Park. I also like to go look for moths with my dad.

Gray: What would you tell someone if they asked you why nature is so important?

Bailey: Nature is important because without it, we wouldn’t exist. Everyone should try to protect it.

Q&A with Kyle and Carli Bailey

Gray: When did your son begin to really fall in love with nature?

Kyle Bailey: He seems to have been born with the nature bug. He has been exploring with his dad since he was weeks old. In my past profession, I was a natural resource manager for the Richland County Park District, then Crawford Park District. As a result, I spent the majority of my time in nature learning about and protecting our local flora and fauna. I am also an avid birdwatcher and I used to travel across the state of Ohio chasing rare birds.

When he was a baby, I used to consider him my good luck charm. He also had the opportunity to visit many different parks and preserves when he was little. As a result of his early adventures, it seeded a deep passion for nature and animals inside of him.

Carli Bailey: Since Slayter was born, he was strapped to a carrier going on hikes outside with his dad. He has always been excited to see any sort of animal or bug and would never hesitate to show us what he found.

Slayter loved being read to as a toddler. He would always pick something about animals. Especially when he hit around two and a half years old — that’s when his true interest started to show — sharks. He became obsessed with marine life in general, but by the time he was four he could name nearly 100 species of sharks. He didn’t just know their names, but he also knew where each species lived, what they ate, and what habitat to find them in. It was remarkable. It got to the point where he would give out information that I would end up googling and sure enough, he usually seemed to be right.

Gray: How much fun is it to see the joy nature brings to your son?

Kyle Bailey: As a parent, it is always fascinating to see what really makes your child tick. When it happens to be something that you are also passionate about, it really makes me emotional and proud that we can share that passion and have that bond.

Carli Bailey: I think as a parent, seeing your child involved in anything they love is awesome. Seeing Slayter light up when he’s in his element, outside, or spouting off one million different, random facts to literally anyone that will listen is the coolest thing. There is nothing better than seeing your kid happy.

Gray: It sounds like the opportunity for the winner is pretty special. What would it mean to see Slayter win? Any special way the $20,000 would be spent?

Kyle Bailey: Carli and I view it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Slayter. Not only would he win $20,000, but he would also be featured in the Ranger Rick magazine, be an ambassador for the magazine, as well as the NWF as a Jr. Ranger, and have the opportunity to learn from Jeff Corwin. Slayter’s passion for the natural world has led him to mention quite often that he wants to do what “dad does” when he gets older.

He is well on his way to becoming a naturalist with the knowledge he already has acquired. With this kind of opportunity, we see it as transformational experience that could really shape his future from a young age and give him the inspiration to achieve his dreams in the conservation field. With the $20,000, we told Slayter he could pick one place to visit and explore and he said he wanted to go to Australia.

Carli Bailey: This would be a huge opportunity for Slayter to win this competition. I knew from a very early age — not much older than Slayter is now — what I wanted to do career wise for the rest of my life, so seeing Slayter so passionate about nature, wildlife and marine biology just makes me wonder where this love of his is going to take him in life. And I’m so excited to see what he can do, especially with this kind of exposure early on.

Twenty-thousand dollars is a substantial amount of money — especially for a kid. I know when we originally talked to Slayter, his first goal was to buy a shark. But he wants to set aside some of the money to help animals and go to Steve Erwin’s Zoo in Australia — which are some lofty goals, so we’ll have to work on those.