updated 1997 July 14
Website sponsored by EcoSystems, Inc.
P O Box 7080, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
Tel: +1.831.425.8523
Program Summary
The National Awards for Environmental Stewardship is an annual high school environmental awards program designed to acknowledge the accomplishments of students who serve their communities and the nation each year as stewards of the environment. More than 270,000 students in 18,000 extracurricular high school environmental clubs in the U.S. actively study environmental issues, adopt streams and rivers, plant trees and gardens, purchase thousands of acres of tropical rain forests, monitor water and air quality, and educate the American public on a wide variety of environmental concerns affecting the health and welfare of the planet and its inhabitants. The Awards program will provide the opportunity and the motivation for these students to earn an accolade that will advance their academic and professional careers.
The Awards program is also more than an "environmental award." The program is designed to create a virtual learning community of like-minded students seeking academic and social enrichment. An Awards web site will offer a variety of distance learning programs: advanced placement courses in environmental studies; mini-courses designed to introduce students to ecological concepts and key public policy issues; threaded discussions with leading environmental activists and political leaders; reviews on documentary films and books; bibliographies and abstracts; a catalogued directory to other web sites; an electronic library of interviews and articles; and the opportunity for students to publish original research papers, news commentaries, and essays. Most of this activity will be student generated to assure a high level of student interest and participation.
The centerpiece of the program is the National Environmental Stewardship Award. The Award application requires students to chronicle the service projects of their environmental clubs for five months beginning in October and ending in March. Multiple awards will be granted in a number of divisions and categories. Awards program evaluators will announce award winners in a variety of categories on Earth Day each year of the program. Budget permitting, select students among these Award winners will be invited to participate in a two-week adventure learning program to study a natural ecosystem in depth. The expedition will be broadcast via the Awards program web site to classrooms and libraries world-wide as an educational service and to promote Awards program enrollment. The Awards program will offer a companion curriculum appropriate for multiple grade levels to support transdisciplinary environmental education programs in the schools. Award winners may also be invited to participate in two-week intensive, fee-based experiential learning programs in environmental stewardship studies each summer at sponsoring colleges or institutes.
The Awards program has been designed and developed by CEID, pronounced "seed." CEID is a Vermont based educational project design and management service. CEID has also identified interested high school environmental clubs nationwide. A launch of the Awards program is tentatively planned for October 1997 for the 1997-98 academic year. CEID is currently seeking the cooperation and commitment of institutions of higher education to participate in the Awards program as an admissions service. The Awards program offers the opportunity for academic institutions to establish meaningful relationships with high school students and teachers year after year that may lead to successful college placements. Each institution of higher education participating in the Awards program must be accredited, have an academic focus that includes experiential learning in environmental studies, make available scholarship awards to students with financial need, and maintain a full-time admissions staff. The enrollment service will be performance-based with costs set on a fixed fee schedule per student enrolled in client institutions by referral through the Awards program.
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For more information, contact Ron Swenson.
updated 1997 July 14 |
Website sponsored by EcoSystems, Inc. |