K-12 Teacher Training on Renewable Energy and Water Nexus

1. Executive Summary:
Content expert presenter on the topic of renewable energy and the water/energy nexus, to The California Environmental Education Foundation (CEEF)’s 2024 Teacher Institute (TI) for Best Practices of Environmental Education and Stewardship.

2. Importance:
Creates environmental and educational community impact in Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Clara Counties in California, by offering 4th-12th grade teachers the opportunity to learn best practices for classroom instruction on the topic of environmental stewardship, with the goal of completing student-led environmental stewardship projects in the same school year, ultimately inspiring young people to understand and care for the environment.

3. Impact and Reach:
Directly, the 2024 project reached 29 Grade 4-12 educator participants that are enrolled in the Institute. In 2023, 18 teachers completed the Institute and implemented projects with 1393 students, while engaging other educators and indirectly impacting an additional 260 teachers and over 23,400 students.

4. Collaborations:
Worked with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Manager of Education Outreach in the Communications and Corporate Strategy Division, in addition with the CEEF TI team, and participated in a panel with other industry colleagues in the water and energy sectors.

5. Your Role Well Defined:
As a working professional in the industry, provided Grade 4-12 educators with a Saturday morning presentation on the topic of renewable energy and the water/energy nexus, with the goal of informing them about environmental stewardship initiatives and concepts, to help them guide student-led projects and classroom instruction.

6. Optional Next Steps:
Continue volunteering involvement when possible and encourage other work colleagues to join the initiative.