Prior to assuming the role of K-12 Science Coordinator, Justin spent 21 years in the classroom teaching about ecology and environmental studies in one form or another.  He is a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow (Antactica) and had the pleasure of taking part in the inaugural CEE Change Fellowship cohort.  He is a passionate proponate of learning by doing and democratizing access to nature everywhere.  

Walk to the Hart of Climate Change

The Project
This community action project seeks to engage students, teachers, scientists, and legislators in working to transform communities across Connecticut through a platform called “Walk to the Hart of Climate Change.” During this inspiring series of student directed actions, youth from adjacent school systems will be taking part in an interconnected, multidisciplinary, and multicultural walk starting in Suffield and ending at the capitol building in Hartford. This walk, performed with National Geographic Explorer John Francis, will highlight student learning, and bring awareness to the pressing issue of climate change.

Action Steps
In order to facilitate this event, we start by bringing together faculty and students to plan the three components of this event. There are three phases. 

• Phase One: Send off day via Suffield Public Schools, local sustainability event at town green.
• Phase Two: Participants walk to partner schools over the course of two days for other sustainability events and place based in situ learning.
• Phase Three: Culminating sustainability event at the CT Science Center. 

In order to facilitate the above, continual correspondance with schools in north central CT and Western Massachusetts will need to take place. This will include, but is not limited to digital and physical mailings, social media push out, press releases, and the like. In order to really engage student leadership, the existing student sustainability group will need to continually engage the student body of not only our school, but our partner schools as well.

Goals

Through this series of actions, students will:

• feel empowered to take part in the political process and create change in their communities.
• broaden and augment their spatial awareness and sense of place while providing the context needed to build an authentic understanding of the region they live in
• foster connections between various districts, work together to forge relationships that foster respect and concern for the welfare of others, develop a deeper understanding of issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and deepen their stewardship values