FROM CLASSROOMS TO COMMUNITIES

With wide eyes, pink cheeks, and dirty hands, first graders jockey for position, getting a closer look at a selection of Tahoe’s “creepy crawlers” brought into their classroom. Deep in the forest, students learn about macro-invertebrates and indicators for a clean watershed. And across town, high school students are drafting proposals for single-use plastic bans they will present at the next Town Council meeting.

With the help of local partner organizations like the Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP), Tahoe Institute for Natural Science (TINS), and many others, Tahoe Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD) students are receiving relevant, hands-on, and authentic science education for sustainability and environmentalism that results in self-identified, real-life changes that benefit the community, the planet, and future generations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describes environmental education that includes stewardship as “providing opportunities for participants to connect with local ecosystems and tools that can help them understand how individual behavior impacts the environment. These activities encourage people to take an active role in managing and protecting these resources.” TTUSD students are receiving stewardship education that is empowering them to take their knowledge outside the classroom and into our community, making measurable impacts right now: using their voices at the policy level, volunteering for restoration projects, mitigating waste at their school district, and so much more.

Learning From the Ground Up

Stewardship starts with knowledge—students use their understanding of local ecology and the delicate balance of our ecosystem to become activists in the community. SWEP and TINS are nonprofit organizations promoting environmental stewardship through school-based education programs. They provide real-world learning experiences for North Lake Tahoe and Truckee students, aiming to inspire them to understand and appreciate the local environment and engage in active stewardship.

TINS brings insects and more to the kids, helping them understand the ways local wildlife contributes to and benefits from healthy forests and watersheds. Their educators visit local classrooms to run programs like “Tahoe’s Bountiful Bugs,” “Tahoe’s Incredible Insects,” “Mysterious Bats,” “How Bats are Like People,” and “Tahoe’s Beautiful Birds.” The students and teachers anticipate these interactive learning experiences that align with national and state standards.

“With an abundance of screen time and packed schedules, in addition to recently coming out of the pandemic, a connection to nature is more important than ever for our youth,” says Sarah Hockensmith, Outreach Director for TINS. “Whether it is birdwatching, touching animal pelts, or observing local insects, TINS programs connect Tahoe and Truckee students to the natural world so they have a better understanding of the organisms that live in their backyard. Our programs promote a sense of stewardship of the local environment and spark curiosity in students to learn more about Tahoe’s local natural history.”

Students also engage in highly anticipated forest stewardship projects in collaboration with SWEP, TINS, and the Sugar Pine Foundation to plant sugar pine seedlings resistant to Blister Rust Fungus. Other fieldwork opportunities offered by SWEP and TINS immerse students in scientific explorations of the High Sierra and its watershed.

Student Scientists in the Field

Learning happens best when it’s authentic. The University of California at Berkeley (UCB) Sagehen Creek Field Station is a 9,000-acre experimental forest and live classroom off HWY 89, north of Truckee. Working alongside UCB, SWEP, and TINS educators, students visit the forest to engage in hands-on field study activities to assess the health of watersheds, learn about macro-invertebrates that live in Sagehen Creek, identify flora, fauna, and animals of the Sierra Nevada, study migration patterns, and more.

SWEP’s “Wonders of the Watershed” program provides handson science lessons to elementary students that explore issues impacting the Lake Tahoe Watershed, eventually culminating in an activity where students take action through a service project focused on improving its health. And the Tahoe Basin Watershed Education Summit partners high school students and teachers from the Tahoe Truckee region with resource specialists and resource conservation district personnel in an extensive watershed monitoring project in local places of need, including Meeks Bay, in collaborations with the Wahoe Tribe, the US Forest Service, and other partner organizations. Students from Tahoe-area high schools work alongside scientific professionals to engage in hands-on field data collection that is critical to developing future restoration activities.

These authentic learning experiences align with Next Generation Science Standards and facilitate an immersive exploration of scientific principles that give students the knowledge they need to engage in real action to promote sustainability.

Students as Activists

As students learn about our local ecology and ecosystem, they naturally begin forming their own ideas on being good stewards. Empowering students to act as advocates for issues they care about, SWEP leads Sustainability and Advocacy clubs for elementary, middle, and high school students at TTUSD.

At the high school level, Envirolution Clubs use art and performance to inspire the community and younger students. Elementary students’ Green Teams are interactive educational clubs that empower elementary students and teachers to be good global citizens by making changes at their respective schools. Middle school students’ Eco-Action Clubs explore green service learning projects that include waste reduction, reusing, recycling, composting, energy and water conservation, water quality, and pollution prevention.

“Action fosters hope. We feel our Sustainability Clubs give students a voice and a path toward creating the change they hope to see,” says Missy Mohler, Executive Director at SWEP. “Sustainability Club students attend town council meetings. Local students’ activism contributed to policy change concerning plastic straws and plastic bags, and they are currently participating in a potential plastic water bottle ban.”

The SWEP-led Sustainability and Advocacy clubs have empowered students to work closely with TTUSD to monitor waste in their 12 schools with an enrollment of over 4,000 students. They work to ensure that as much waste as possible is diverted from the landfill through organic waste diversion, best recycling practices, collecting electronic waste, and hosting Donation and Exchange Stations to reuse school supplies.

“TTUSD waste management programs connect to the sustainability clubs,” explains Missy. “It’s successful because kids are teaching other kids and school staff how to do it right— separating recycling materials, organic waste, and so much more.”

The schools offer bulk milk dispensers, removed straws years ago, and implemented salad bars in every school in 2012 to increase bulk purchasing and offerings with less packaging. They cycle fruits and veggies into whole-grain breakfast muffins and bars, curbing excessive organic waste.

“We’re committed to values-aligned procurement, which includes purchasing locally grown, mostly organic produce and procuring beef that supports regenerative agriculture. Specifically, we are working with Richard’s Beef, Tahoe Food Hub, and Produce Plus in Kings Beach and procuring direct from farmers within 150 miles of our district boundaries,” explains Kat Soltanmorad, Director of Food and Nutrition Services.

These efforts, led by students, implemented by TTUSD staff and students, and guided by SWEP, were recognized with a Green Achiever award in 2018—the highest level California Green Ribbon Award a school or district can receive. California Green Ribbon Awards acknowledge excellence in resource efficiency, health and wellness, and environmental and sustainability education.

Students also receive knowledge about the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, the original stewards of Waší∙šiw ɁitdéɁ or “the homelands of the Washoe people.” In recognition of the native peoples who are the original, and ongoing, stewards of the Lake Tahoe basin, High Sierra, and surrounding areas, local students visit the tenets of the Wahoe Tribe: “Our lifestyles revolved around the environment; the people were part of the environment, and everything was provided by the environment.”

Students are imploring you: “What are you doing? Do one thing every day, whether it’s composting, choosing reusables over plastic, eating less meat, bringing your own bags to the market, or… ? Pick one thing that is contributing to a better planet, and dedicate yourself to that.”