During the 2023-2024 school year, our Teen Leaders in Conservation (TLC) program engaged 88 students at four schools in hands-on, meaningful explorations of nature and local city wildlife. Not only did they meet amazing young people working in conservation, but they also participated in fun environmental service projects—including teaching younger students about conservation.
Here are a few highlights from the program at the Washington School for Girls (WSG), where we worked with a group of 26 middle school students over the course of the school year thanks to support from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. This program culminated with the teens teaching younger students in Grades 3-5 all about ways to care for the environment.
Learning Through Hands-on Activities
As part of the program, students completed numerous nature-related hands-on activities that included making recycled paper bookmarks, maintaining vermicompost bins, and creating seed spheres for native plants. All these projects were simple, easy ways to engage with the natural world and were done with basic tools and components in the classroom! The girls also enjoyed creating their own green cleaners, a mix of water, baking soda, liquid soap, and lemon juice.Learning from Conservation Champions
TLC focuses on many aspects of leadership, including public speaking, community service, and advocacy. We introduced the girls to a variety of professionals working in diverse conservation careers, including a wildlife rehabilitator, an environmental lawyer, an air quality expert, a mycologist, and more! For example, the girls enjoyed working with author and literacy activist, Caroline Brewer, to create love poems about the environment.I feel love for the environment when it is quiet by the creek.
I feel love for the environment when it’s quiet because all I hear
is nature’s sounds,
like birds chirping and water running,
and it makes me feel relaxed and free to be in nature’s presence.
— Mya
Becoming Conservation Leaders
Hands-on activities are proven to increase learning ability and engagement with students, and our TLC program is designed to give them the opportunity to experience nature firsthand as they grow in confidence and become environmental champions.
Throughout the school year, the girls’ favorite activity was always spending time learning about and caring for Oxon Run, the stream that flows next to their school. We spent as much time as possible outdoors, where they investigated water quality, cleaned the stream regularly, learned to identify birds, plants, and macroinvertebrates, and even measured air quality in the schoolyard.
Lift as You Climb
Conservation Nation works to empower the next generation of conservationists, and our TLC program is no different! Our middle school students used what they learned in the program to teach the elementary classes at their school about worms, composting, making eco-friendly cleaners, and preventing watershed pollution.
Watching the girls go from being taught about nature to becoming teachers was an incredible, full-circle moment! We’re so proud of our students for blossoming into proud, confident, and capable wildlife champions.
After we discussed the concepts of energy conservation and efficiency, we showed the girls how to use energy tools such as watt meters and light meters to measure electricity use in the school. The girls enjoyed using these tools and taking turns leading demonstrations on energy efficiency!
We brought seeds, soil, and grow lights for the girls to grow kale and Swiss chard for Liz, their bearded dragon class pet.
On a rainy day, the girls had fun learning about the pH scale and testing different samples of water from the stream and school.
I feel love for the environment when it is quiet by the creek.
I feel love for the environment when it’s quiet because all I hear
is nature’s sounds,
like birds chirping and water running,
and it makes me feel relaxed and free to be in nature’s presence.
I feel love for the environment when it’s nurtured.
I feel love for the environment when it’s nurtured because
the animals could have a hard time surviving
if it’s not.
It makes me feel good to love and nurture the environment.
— Mya
