In a world facing numerous environmental challenges, the need to engage students in research related to environmental sustainability and environmental protection is profound. What better way to deliver that experience to high school and college students than to provide them with an opportunity to work in teams on solving environmental problems faced by local communities?In this presentation, I would like to share a unique model that achieves that objective. The model, developed by SUNY Oswego and Syracuse Academy of Sciences Charter School, allows inner-city high school students to stay at college students' dorms for 4 weeks and work with university professors and undergraduates on various research projects. While involved with this program, I worked with 10 high school and three undergraduate students. We completed nine community-oriented environmental research projects. The experience was absolutely remarkable and resulted in 33 awards, including two college scholarships for high school students and four invitations to participate in International Science Olympiads. Many students who took part in this program chose to continue their education in STEM fields. Most importantly, all of them learned about environmental stewardship and understood environmental concerns from the basis of science � lessons that they will share with others throughout their lives.

Lessons of environmental stewardship

247th National Meeting (2014)

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