EXECUTIVE MESSAGE

It’s remarkable how little has changed in our nation’s classrooms despite the online and mobile information revolution. Years ago, students doing research would have to paw through library reference guides to find relevant articles; today, just a few simple keystrokes in Google fill your screen with information.

At Environmental Charter Schools (ECS), we practice a different kind of education where we challenge students to apply the facts to practical situations. Because information is so easily accessible, we stress critical thinking and meaningful action in the real world.

It’s no longer viable to close the classroom door and lecture on just the facts. That is why we work with our community to extend our classrooms beyond the four walls and engage our students in authentic and relevant experiences.

For their ability to tackle our nation's most challenging problems, our students are achieving academic success and are recruited by our country’s best colleges. That is why the White House selected Environmental Charter as a model. It is also why the California Department of Education and various foundations and corporations have continued to help underwrite the dissemination of our ECS-developed best practices to other schools.

We attribute our success to our unique ability to inspire our community of learners to care about their community, and we wouldn’t be able to do this without the support and help of a community that affords us the partnerships to open our classrooms and schoolhouse doors to the real world!

Thank you for your support during this amazing year, and we wish you a warm and happy holiday season!

Alison Suffet-Diaz is Founder & Executive Director of Environmental Charter Schools.

TOP STORY

RETHINK:GREEN Celebrity Gala Event A Smashing Success

Last month’s RETHINK:GREEN event to raise awareness and funding support for Environmental Charter Schools’ Green Ambassadors Institute proved a smashing success thanks to the help of our many sponsors, partners, and community supporters.

The celebrity-packed event featured Ed Begley Jr., Rachel Carson, Lisa Ling, and many others, and raised over $64,000 in contributions toward our plans to offer green teacher training nationwide.

Over 620 people attended the multi-media, multi-sensory event, which also honored 10 Green Leaders and showcased ‘green’ art, food, and culture. RETHINK: Green also helped raise public awareness of our school, our Green Ambassadors Institute, and green education in general by generating some 77,000-plus media impressions via TV shows like Good Day LA on Fox, and many other print and online media outlets. See a video of the event - click here.

GREEN AMBASSADORS INSTITUTE COURSES

FOR EDUCATORS: GREEN YOUR SCHOOL

Learn how to implement hands-on environmental service learning that makes a difference for students and the community! Earn graduate and continuing education credits through UCLA Extension too. Click here to learn more and register. Hurry! Limited scholarships available.

ENVIRONMENTAL CHARTER: HELPING TO SHAPE GREEN EDUCATION

Keynote Address to The Green California School Summit

Environmental Charter Schools remains at the forefront of green education, and ECS Founder & Executive Director Alison Suffet-Diaz will keynote the day’s conference for the Green California School Summit & Exposition at 9 a.m. on December 8 in Pasadena, California.

The goal of the summit is to demonstrate how to integrate principles and practices of sustainability into the school curriculum, with an emphasis on real-world connections presented by industry experts.

Described as two of California’s most successful sustainability educators, Alison Suffet-Diaz, and Sara Laimon, Founder & Director of ECS’ Green Ambassadors, will offer practical advice to educators on issues such as partnerships and curriculum resources during “Green Pathways to the Future,” a daylong session. Conference organizers selected Diaz and Laimon because they have built successful hands-on environmental education programs from the ground up.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get connected, encouraged, and empowered. Friends of ECS can receive a 20% discount on registration by using the promo code “GREENSPEAKER” (all uppercase) when registering. To register, visit http://www.green-technology.org/gcschools/index.html or call (626) 577-5700.

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

Keep LA Beautiful and Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education Sponsor Scholarships for Green Ambassadors Institute Courses

Thanks to grants from the City of LA Department of Public Works' project Keep LA Beautiful and the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education, scholarships are available for Los Angeles-based educators to take Green Ambassador Institute courses. These courses are designed to train local teachers in sustainability practices and educational curriculum used at Environmental Charter Schools.

“The Green Ambassador Program is an investment in our future,” says Cynthia M. Ruiz, President for the Board of Public Works and advisory committee chair for Keep LA Beautiful. “Education is a powerful tool toward creating sustainable change.”

"The Green Ambassador Program will continue to connect our children to the environment," says Michael Klubock, Executive Director of The Malibu Foundation.

Keep LA Beautiful was started in 2007 as a citywide public awareness, education, and beautification campaign led by the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. The program engages community members to reduce waste through reuse and recycling projects. Through public-private partnerships and strategic alliances, it mobilizes thousands of volunteers to clean up, beautify, and improve their neighborhoods, extending quality of life and protecting community environments.

The Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to a sustainable and healthy planet for all life by educating and motivating people into action. Since 1991, the Malibu Foundation's Adopt-A-Beach School Assembly Program has reached almost 600,000 California school children.

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INSPIRED STUDENTS

Day of The Dead Brings Spanish Lessons To Life

ECHS’ Spanish department brought lessons to life beyond the classroom walls last month with a major cultural celebration for Día de los Muertos at Environmental Charter High School (ECHS). Spanish for Day of the Dead, the holiday celebrated in the Mexico and the Americas focuses on gatherings to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.

Over 350 students and parents attended the event, which featured student presentations in Spanish, art and ethnic cuisine showcases, as well as Mexican folk music and indigenous Aztec dance performances by students. In ECHS’ community amphitheatre built with sustainable materials, students gave presentations in Spanish about people whose lives had taught them lessons or inspired them. Art classrooms showcased exquisite yarn art pieces based on indigenous Huichol Mexican patterns and techniques.

“The Day of The Dead celebration at ECS connects to a lesson we learned in the beginning of my freshman year: everything is connected,” says ECHS senior, Laura Chavez, who performed in and co-hosted the event. “To me, it is a time of reflection on family and others who have passed on. Rather than mourning, it is about celebrating their life, and a time to appreciate life itself.”

“It showed an appreciation of cultural diversity at ECHS,” adds sophomore Luz Leanos, who also helped organize the celebration. “We should all learn more about each other's culture to make the community stronger.”

“Our fantastic Spanish teachers worked far beyond classroom hours with incredible energy to make this hands-on, authentic and relevant learning experience possible,” said Jenni Taylor, ECHS’ Principal.

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STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Sandra Montano

Job: Spanish Teacher

Educational Background: BA: Spanish, with a minor in Secondary Education BCLAD (Preliminary Secondary Teaching Credential), Loyola Marymount University. Delta Epsilon Iota Academic Honor Society. Arete Award recipient (Community Service Award at LMU). LMU PLACE Corps Program.

Before ECHS: Montano previously worked as a Spanish Teacher at Bishop Mora Salesian High School, and as a student teacher at Westchester High School.

On ECHS: Montano loves how she is growing as a teacher at ECHS, and is continually inspired by her students. “I love learning from my students,” she explains. “By watching them take an active role in promoting socially and ecologically just causes, I see how they create positive change in their neighborhood and the world.”

When School’s Out: Montano is completing an M.A. in Biliteracy, Leadership, and Intercultural Education. When she has a spare moment from caring for her new puppy, Lily, she enjoys a variety of activities, including poetry, painting, and dancing, yoga, cooking, and aqua aerobics.

IN THE MEDIA

ECHS Students Speak on NBC LA

NBC Program

Environmental Charter High School in Los Angeles puts an emphasis on green solutions.

Students are encouraged to share what they have learned in their communities.

Watch the video- click here

Discovery’s Planet Green Show Visits Environmental Charter High

Planet 100, a popular show on the Planet Green television network, takes a tour of Environmental Charter High to learn why ECHS boasts many green features and incorporates sustainability into its curriculum.

Watch the video - click here

Planet Green is the first and only 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network, with on-air content reaching 50 million homes, offering original green lifestyle programming.