Environmental Justice Semester

List of 4 items.

• Environmental Justice Defined*

  Environmental Justice (EJ) positions us at the intersection of environmental studies and social justice. EJ issues include such challenges as:

  • Climate change

  • Inadequate access to healthy food and transportation

  • Air and water pollution, and

  • Toxicity in homes and communities

  *Environmental Justice Platform adopted at The First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 1991

• A Semester “Away” in Northeast Ohio

  Current Laurel students and girls from the Greater Cleveland area can pause their studies at their current school and earn a semester of credits through an immersive Fall or Spring semester learning about issues in Environmental Justice and partnering with solution-focused organizations throughout greater Cleveland to take action. At the end of this highly-engaged academic “semester away”, students return to their regular academic program at their high school inspired and hopeful about solutions in the environmental justice movement.
  
  Learning deeply within a dynamic interdisciplinary structure enables students to more authentically examine the multidimensional aspects of real-world Environmental Justice challenges and understand the varied skills necessary for vigorous scholarship, effective dialogue, and transformational action.
  

• Growing the Next Generation of Female Changemakers

  The Environmental Justice Semester is committed to fostering ethical leadership - students make a positive impact in the greater Cleveland area and beyond. As part of their coursework, girls volunteer weekly with EJ-focused partner organizations, matched to student interest, to learn from and support the work already being done in the field of EJ.
  
  Students become changemakers with the tools, inspiration, and agency to advocate for environmental justice and to use their voices for the greater good. They engage in hands-on research, action for change, and project development in local communities.
  
  Students will work on individual projects that may include:
  

  • Climate change policy research
  • Environmental education
  • Lead poisoning policy and education
  • Tackling food deserts
  • Ecological restoration (tree planting, urban gardens, invasive removal)
  • Community organizing
  • Attending local council meetings
  • Journalism

  Over 125 years of experience educating girls and data from Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls (LCRG) shows us that student voice and choice are important, and a feeling of purpose provides motivation for students to discover how they can make an impact in the things they are passionate about and better the world.
  

• Environmental Justice Semester Curriculum

  The semester is centered around place-based learning and deep interdisciplinary scholarship while working to build student capacity for compelling storytelling and to foster ethical leadership. English, history, and environmental science courses are taught in interdisciplinary ways, while more discrete subjects such as mathematics and World Languages will be offered online through our longstanding partnership with online educational organization One Schoolhouse (OSH). Our collaboration with OSH provides asynchronous learning that is flexible and complements the EJ semester seamlessly.
  
  

  For non-Laurel students, the EJ Semester academic advisors work with the student’s high school academic counselor to coordinate course equivalency and transcripts.

  
  

  Students earn semester credits in:

  • Honors English (The Power of Words)
  • Honors Science (Equitable Solutions for a Changing World)
  • Honors History (Environmental Ethics and Policy)
  • Mathematics (placement is tailored specifically for each student; classes conducted online through One Schoolhouse)
  • World Languages (placement is tailored specifically for each student; classes conducted online through One Schoolhouse)
  • Environmental Justice Action Project
  • Physical Education/Personal Wellness