After assuring my principal that I could handle the extra work, I started looking for my allies. Thankfully, they were not hard to find. After an introduction to the project and an initial interest survey, I identified the teachers in the building who were willing to support the initiative or, better yet, be part of the planning team. As luck would have it—or perhaps a gift from the universe itself, these teachers were predominantly part of my 8th grade teaching team and declared their minds, hearts, and planbooks open to the inclusion of climate change lessons in their subject areas. These amazing individuals are also part of the middle school Equity Team—isn’t that interesting?—so we were able to do much of our planning at these already scheduled, monthly meetings, where we could be sure that our climate lessons were centered in equity, inclusion, and justice. Add to this group one devoted school counselor to help us keep student mental health in the forefront of our minds, and voila, I had half of my team in place.

Here, I will pause for a moment, to emphasize the importance of this CEE-Change Fellowship in what might otherwise seem like a typical story of dedicated teachers, taking on extra work for the greater good. But if that were the case here, this excellent group of teachers at Haslett MS would have missed out on the BEST part of this CAP - working with young student leaders from the school. The CEE-Change Fellowship program commenced with a leadership institute organized by the lovely folks at NAAEE, which brought together educators from around the world who were part of the 2023 cohort.  Here, I learned not only how to engage students in climate action, but also realized why they should play an integral role in the development of a climate change education model. For this nugget of wisdom, I will forever be grateful to NAAEE and the other 2023 Fellows, who helped me move past traditional methods of curriculum development and into a more authentic and equitable approach, with students and teachers in partnership. Isn’t this, after all, the potential power of climate education —to fix, along the way, many of the problems that exist in American institutions? I’d argue yes…yes it is.

Introducing…the SEAL team! Maybe I should back up a moment, since this is not MY acronym, but one developed by the students themselves. Early in the year, I decided to reach out to students I’d taught the year before who I knew would be assets to this project. This might be the best move I made throughout the process - the five 9th graders who responded have blown me away with their passion, insights, and integrity as they helped take the work we were doing to the next level. They intelligently spoke to teachers about essential components of climate education based on student survey data and immediately got to work on developing climate education goals not just for the middle school, but the whole district. Throughout the year, they created the Student Environmental Activism Leadership acronym and logo, met with the director of the Michigan Climate Action Network, and created a presentation for the Haslett School Board asking for district-wide climate education, which they presented in May. Perhaps most importantly, three of these students assisted in creating the agenda for the climate education workshop I offered for teachers in the district in June and facilitated a session on climate anxiety. And THIS is what it’s all about - teachers and students, learning from each other.