For Immediate Release

CONTACT
Sara Laimon
Email: sara_laimon@echsonline.org
16315 Grevillea Ave, Lawndale, CA 90260
310-214-3400 x209

Environmental Charter High School Exports Green Curriculum
Lawndale Charter School collaborates with 10 California public schools to better prepare students for the 21st century

Lawndale, CA May 20, 2009, – Environmental Charter High School (ECHS), a public charter high school, has recently selected 10 other California public schools to participate in its Green Action Curriculum Project: an initiative funded by the California Public Charter Schools Grant Program for the purpose of disseminating effective “green curriculum” practices into schools throughout the state.
Over the next twelve months, all 11 schools will collaborate in the dissemination of programs such as ECHS’s “Green Ambassadors”, an innovative curriculum in which high school students first become experts in specific sustainability issues and solutions, then go out into their community to raise awareness of those issues and encourage and support the adoption of solutions.
Sara Laimon, Director of the Green Action Curriculum Project, has observed a great surge of interest among California schools in improving their capability for delivery of programs like Green Ambassadors.  “There are many educators in our state who recognize how vital it is that we educate this generation of students to live and work successfully in a world that’s very different from the one their parents grew up in.  We appreciate having this opportunity to meet and work with some of those educators and I’m sure we will all learn a great deal from each other in the process.”
In addition to the Green Ambassadors curriculum, participant schools will receive professional development and resources that support interdisciplinary instruction, another hallmark of ECHS’s program.  “When you set out to solve real world problems, the subjects that are usually studied separately in school are all mixed together, and you need to be able to see the connections between science, government, language, and mathematics.  When students have that kind of curriculum experience in school, they get a much better understanding of why every subject is an essential element of a complete education,” noted Alison Diaz-Suffet, ECHS’s Instructional Leader/Founder.
“Collaborations between schools can be tremendously exciting, because we get energy and inspiration from each other,” commented Vanessa Carter, School Program Development Coordinator for the Bay Area’s Environmental Service Learning Initiative (ESLI).  “When teachers are given opportunities like this it’s our students that benefit.”
The Green Curriculum Action Project involves 4 schools in Northern California and 6 schools in Southern California.  For more information, contact Sara Laimon at Sara_laimon@echsonline.org or 310-214-3400.
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Read the article about Green Ambassadors written by Sara Laimon:

http://www.green-technology.org/green_technology_magazine/real-change.htm

Barack Obama – a transitional agent of change – has become our country’s first African American U.S. president, and more and more young people are following his lead in trying to make America a more responsible and respected place.  In my own section of the United States, Los Angeles, California, I have founded the Green Ambassadors, an organization of students who work tirelessly to teach their communities how to practice sustainable living….read more here…

Read the following article written by Racquel Palmese for Green Technology Magazine:

http://www.green-technology.org/green_technology_magazine/revolution.htm

…..”At the eight year-old Environmental Charter High School (ECHS) in Los Angeles, the school’s 450 students prepare for Earth Day activities, which include some 1,000 elementary students plus a number of middle and high schools students visiting the campus. Each ECHS grade level will teach elementary students about a specific environmental topic. Ninth graders have chosen to teach issues around global warming; tenth graders will teach topics in their Green Ambassadors program. Eleventh graders have tackled pollution – tying chemistry to industrialization in US history”………..

Green Technology did a slide show about  Environmental Charter High School and the Green Ambassador Program.  “The students invent and reinvent new ways to green their school. They “educate” city councilmen about plastic waste in Santa Monica Bay by building boats out of plastic bottles and trash and taking them for rides. They are dedicated composters, gardeners and communicators. This slide show captures some of their projects and activities.”read more here:  http://www.green-technology.org/green_technology_magazine/enviromental-gallery/

Students encourage Los Angeles to take a stand against single use plastic

Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour