Sitka Conservation Society Youth and Climate Catalyst

This summer I interned at the Sitka Conservation Society, which is dedicated to protecting the Tongass National Forest and supporting the sustainable development of communities in Southeast Alaska, where I grew up.

My internship revolved around the question of ‘how can schools best prepare students for climate change?’ To research this, I interviewed teachers, students, and community members about climate changes they’ve experienced, how climate change is talked about in school, and what programs exist to prepare students for climate change. I compiled this information into a website, https://climateedu.wixsite.com/education, to make the information easily accessible for teachers or local organizations.

My research taught me so much about effective education, and I learned about so many cool programs in my hometown that I never knew about. Additionally, building the website showed me that I can research issues that are important to me while still being creative in how I can effectively communicate my findings. Another creative output was taking photos of one of the programs I included on my website, Sitka’s 4H club. It connects local children to the environment around them, and one of my favorite parts of my internship was taking photos of them learning and exploring. A couple of these photos are included.

This internship was funded by the Ajmera Internship Fund​.