Sustainable Summer
“The Dartmouth Environmental Leadership Academy is ideal for high school students with a strong interest in environmental sustainability, and is particularly well suited to students interested in entrepreneurship, socially-responsible business, and non-profits. Coursework on the program is rooted in entrepreneurship with a dash of environmental economics and a survey of some of the most important ideas in sustainability. Students work to launch an organization that can create environmental good. The program examines topics including the responsibilities that businesses and individuals have towards the planet and society; the limitations and advantages that different organizational structures and business models have in advancing positive sustainability outcomes; how markets function and how incentives affect individual, business and institutional behavior; and how sustainability-conscious firms think about the management of natural resources in a market economy.”
How do I get started? Go to their website and apply.
How do I expand this narrative arc? Bring your summer work home with you and implement a related project in your community. Looking for something else? Consider one of these:
Reduce the environmental impact of your community’s Christmas celebrations by launching a Mulchfest.
Track climate change in your part of the world by planting a Tulip Test Garden.
Participate in a quick citizen science project that revolves around the environment or sustainability like The Big Microplastic Survey
Physically build and deploy satellite-tracked Student Drifters that track ocean currents and validate ocean models.
Apply for a grant from the Captain Planet Foundation for your own ocean related project.
HOT TIP: This is a really interesting summer program for a high school student that is interested in the intersection between sustainability and entrepreneurship. Admission is selective, and the experience is rigorous. Note, however, that the value from any summer program is only as great as how well it links in to the remainder of a student’s academic and extracurricular experience. You’ll get more bang for your buck if you continue the summer work that you’ve started in your home community.