Pasadena Memorial HS receives $22.6K grant

Pasadena Memorial receives $22.6K grant from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Posted on 02/14/2020
This is the image for the news article titled Pasadena Memorial receives $22.6K grant from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)Story by:  Maria Mata
PISD Communications

Pasadena Memorial High School received a $22,600 grant from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to expand the school’s environmental youth council program.

The grant project looks to advance scientific and environmental literacy in coastal regions by the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.

The grant funds will allow PMHS to continue the school’s Environmental Youth Council program. Program organizers hope that the program will help to empower students to become future leaders on climate and air pollution issues by incorporating EDF curriculum into the course: Environmental Systems and AP Environmental Science.

Pasadena Memorial received grant funding last year to start the Environmental Youth Council program and focus its efforts on air pollution in the area. The original grant also made it possible to purchase two air quality monitors for proper data collection.

During the ITC fires in the area, the youth council was able to monitor the effects of the air quality by gathering the data from the monitors on the roof.  
This additional grant will expand the students’ knowledge and understanding about air pollution, climate change, its health effects, possible environmental careers, and understanding partnerships with industries.  

The environmental youth council members learn the effects of pollution through data collection, labs, activities, field trips, and visits from specialists who educate students about these topics. The youth council will be taking a field trip to the Houston Ship Channel at the end of February as part of this research.

These grants also provided CPR training and certification for all students in the council.  
Ashley Poloha, a teacher at PMHS said, “The council is learning that knowledge is power” and that “our youth has a voice and it’s powerful. Youth council members are becoming informed citizens that will be able to pass on their knowledge to the rest of the community.”

The Environmental student council will host a town hall at PMHS to share what they have learned about air pollution at the end of the school year. 

The town hall meeting will include presentations on the data gathered during the school year and its effects on the area surrounding the school. Additionally, students will create an air pollution and climate change video that will be showcased to the community and will later be entered into a video contest. 

The video contest gives students an opportunity to win a trip to Washington D.C. to learn more about lawmaking and how laws can protect our environment. An estimated 150 students will be participating in the program.

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