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Sc3 2025:
Student Conservation Community & Congress

In partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center, the Green Schools Alliance is proud to host Sc3, the Student Climate & Conservation Congress, once again in July 2025.

• Who: Rising 9th-12th grade students  *US and Internationally

• When: June 29-July 5, 2025

• Where: National Conservation Training Center, West Virginia

Sc3 is a week-long youth leadership training program for rising 9th to 12th grade students. From engaging workshops to kayaking down the Potomac, learning from inspiring guest speakers, sharing tales around the campfire, and tackling group projects on real-world environmental challenges, the students who attended SC3 now have a new chapter to add to their personal stories as young environmental leaders. Hear NCTC talk about Sc3 here and here.

“Sc3 was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Absolutely life changing!!” Arielle, 2024 Sc3 Fellow

The Power of School Gardens

For many schools, the first seed of their school’s sustainability journey was creating a school garden—a living laboratory where students, staff, and even parents can connect with nature, engage in hands-on learning, often even grow food, and develop environmental awareness in an enjoyable way.

“If we are going to ask kids to care about their effect on the earth, they have to love it first.”

- Liz Cutler, Whole School Sustainability

(Above: School garden at San Domenico School, California)

🌱 Host a Garden-Raising Event

A garden committee at Princeton Day School in New Jersey arranged a ‘garden raising’ event, which brought together 200 volunteers—faculty, students, staff, alumni, and administrators—who constructed a 50 x 100 foot garden in just 8 hours using their own tools, donated materials, and a small family grant. Read more.

🌱 Garden-Raising can Spur Further Sustainability Progress

At Princeton Day School, the sense of community, school pride, and general good feeling that grew from the garden-raising event has been a great boon to the school’s Going Green initiative, notes Liz Cutler. An unexpected benefit of the event was the emergence of a dedicated parent volunteer network for family-oriented sustainability challenges. Read more.

🌱 Let Students Dig In 

At San Domenico School CA (pictured above), the acre-sized garden is an interactive classroom where students “tend to the soil, plant seeds, harvest crops, and make meals—it’s all about making learning hands-on,” says Shelley Flint, Sustainability Director and Garden Coordinator. 

🌱 A Point of Pride, and a Place to Connect

School gardens can potentially host school-wide gatherings, from parent community events to student celebrations. At San Domenico School (pictured below) , one of the most anticipated events of the year is the Garden Fair, where students from K-12 create and sell products made from the garden’s harvest.

Learn more about the Power of School Gardens to ignite school sustainability.

Read more about San Domenico School’s Living Classroom.

START Metric #7: Outdoor Learning Environments

Outdoor learning environments offer unique opportunities for students to engage with the natural world while deepening their understanding of academic subjects. Research shows that nature-specific outdoor learning has measurable socio-emotional, academic and wellbeing benefits.

This START Whole School Sustainability metric is about providing outdoor areas that are readily accessible to classes, require minimal costs or time to use, and serve as effective spaces for integrating sustainability concepts into existing curricula.

The Case for Outdoor learning

🌱 Boosts academic performance – Students who engage in outdoor learning show improved science, math, and literacy outcomes, with studies linking nature-based education to higher test scores.

🌿 Enhances student well-being – Time spent in green spaces is associated with reduced anxiety and improved mental health, helping students regulate emotions and build resilience.

🚶 Increases physical activity – Outdoor classrooms encourage movement, reducing sedentary behavior and promoting healthier lifestyles.

(Below: Students at Montclair Kimberley Academy (New Jersey, USA) enjoying their school’s green roof.)

Congratulations to these schools for launching their Whole School Sustainability journeys through START! See a map of our START schools here.

• Shirlee Green Preschool, Missouri USA

• Wellington College Hangzhou, China

• St Christopher’s International School, Nairobi Kenya

📝 Primer - What is Sustainability? - Teacher-resource with activities that help students understand the basic concepts of 'sustainability' and 'regenerative sustainability'.

📝 Primer - What is School Sustainability? Teacher-resource ideal for before introducing students to START, sparking student interest in sustainable schools without overwhelming them with information.

📝 Student Action-Planning Toolkit: Students choose a sustainability action (aligned with START’s 53 Whole School Sustainability metrics) for a proposal to make their school more sustainable. They research, determine feasibility, pitch to their classmates, and finally the strongest pitches can be presented to school decision-makers! 

Earth Day 2025

🌍  SubjectToClimate invites educators and students to celebrate with 30 days of actionable classroom activities to inspire environmental learning and action.

🌍  EarthDay.org provides resources like lesson plans, activity ideas and planning tools, as well as student competitions. Join a community of Earth Day School. Register as an Earth Day Educator Representative and submit students’ climate projects to the Earth Day Showcase.

🌍 Host an Earth Day Event at your school - consider workshops, guest speakers, an Environmental Expo, video screenings, art exhibits, clothing-swaps and more! See how San Domenico School, California celebrated Earth Day in 2024.

🌍   Find more ideas for Earth Day Activities from Project Learning Tree.

Green Schools Alliance is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, created by schools, for schools, with a mission is to connect and empower schools worldwide to lead the transition to a sustainable, equitable, and climate-resilient future.

Ways to get involved:

1. Get your school to sign the Sustainability & Climate Leadership Commitment to join schools and districts who have already
   answered the call to action.

2. Join the Community for resources, best practices & a peer-to-peer network of school sustainability champions.

3. Use START: Sustainability Tracking, Analytics & Roadmap Tool to benchmark, plan, track and collaborate for Whole School Sustainability.