In August, Environmental Charter High School hosted the Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future (LEAF) Educators Network Annual Retreat. Educators from 16 high schools across the nation converged on ECHS’s campus to share curricular development ideas designed to inspire students to be future conservation and community leaders.
The focus of this year’s retreat, which was presented by The Nature Conservancy with the support of the Toyota USA Foundation, used the city as a learning tool across disciplines.
Teachers who attended the retreat learned from innovative practitioners in the field of urban environmental education and shared best teaching practices. Field trips to local sites of urban sustainability included a community Toxic Tour, and visits to Dominguez Gap Wetlands, Farm Lot 59, and Trash for Teaching. These sites and ours serve as examples of how teachers can infuse similar lessons into their own curriculum.
“We were delighted and honored to host LEAF’s Educators Network Annual Retreat,” noted ECS Founder and Executive Director Alison Suffet-Diaz. “It was inspiring to see the mutual exchange of insights, ideas, knowledge and experience among so many like-minded educators. No doubt this retreat was a breeding ground for some important developments in environmental education that will have significant and far-reaching impact.”
We are proud to be associated with these other innovative individuals and organizations through the Nature Conservancy’s training and our partnership:
Keynote Speaker Akiima Price from Community Environmental Education in Washington, D.C.
EcoStation, Just Foods Farm School, From Lot to Spot, New Knowledge Organization, Solar One Green Energy Arts and Education, Eco-Schools USA at the National Wildlife Federation, Communities for a Better Environment.
About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Since 1951, The Nature Conservancy has protected more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide — and we operate more than 100 marine conservation projects globally. The Nature Conservancy works in all 50 states and more than 30 countries—protecting habitats from grasslands to coral reefs, from Australia to Alaska to Zambia. For more information, visit www.nature.org.
About LEAF
Since 1995, the LEAF program provided paid summer internships for students in nature preserves across the nation and helped educators from environmental high schools share best practices and scientific resources during the academic year. The program has had a tremendous impact on urban youth—opening their eyes to career possibilities, building self-confidence, work skills and conservation literacy.
