An award for Environmental Education
On Oct. 6, I was honored and humbled to receive the Environmental Education Association of Oregon’s Excellence in Environmental Education Awards at its annual international conference which took place in Portland.
Though generally reserved for environmental educators, Kim Silva and Dan Prince of the Multnomah Education Service District (ESD) and Friends of Outdoor School submitted my name because of the work the Metro Council and I have done in providing support for the ESD’s long-standing Outdoor School program. I first suggested Metro support Outdoor School in 2006.
Metro’s fiscal year 2008-09 budget included $1.4 million to provide partial reimbursement to approved Outdoor Immersion Program Providers for including 6.5 hours of waste reduction curriculum and activities during each week at outdoor school. Several schools in the region – from Beaverton to North Clackamas – were able to participate for the first time in Outdoor School because of this funding; others were able to increase the length of their programs by a day, and still others would have had to cancel if funding was not provided.
The award I received was for an outstanding individual dedicated to advancing or providing quality environmental education in Oregon. Outdoor School is particularly proud of its partnership with Metro, which has created a reliable funding stream for teaching sixth graders throughout the region about waste reduction and recycling. Up to 15,000 sixth graders from throughout the region can keep attending this very important residential environmental education program which is has been described by some students as a life-changing experience.
The Environmental Education Association of Oregon is dedicated to creating an environmentally literate citizenry composed of people who have the skills and knowledge necessary to make informed decisions regarding natural resources.
Outdoor School is an environmental education program for sixth-grade students and has nearly 40 years experience offering science-based, environmental education.