Huntington Library Partners with Pasadena Youth Organization to Teach Kids Water Issues, Conservation

For the last five months the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens has partnered with Pasadena-based Outward Bound Adventures to offer a first of its kind water conservation program to high school students.

The program exposed students from the Esteban Torres High School in East Los Angeles to water issues as they visited, worked, and studied the role water plays in supporting life by following its path from the Sierra Nevada mountain range (Sierras) to Los Angeles.

Beginning and ending at The Huntington and through a series of classroom activities, service projects, field visits, and expeditions to geographically relevant sites in and outside of the Los Angeles Basin, students were given a comprehensive, interactive overview of the current water issues. By emphasizing scientific inquiry and experiential learning, participants obtained a deeper understanding of the issues and the role they can play locally and regionally to have a significant and positive influence on water issues.

Service projects were a big part of this program to instill a sense of stewardship and also exposure to practitioners, such as educators, engineers, botanists, or park rangers. This exposure has resulted in widening the students’ career trajectories beyond what is taught in the classroom and ultimately may lead some of the students to professions in the sciences and related fields.

On Saturday, May 30, 2015 the students will be presenting in the new lecture hall at the Huntington Library and Botanical gardens, which is a large, beautiful, theatre-style space.

The students will make presentations to address the following:

1. How can The Huntington conserve and/or recycle water on the grounds?
2. What will the team will do to conserve, prevent pollution, and/or recycle water in their homes and communities?
3. What careers did the students find most closely aligned with their values?

The program portion of the event is from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 30, 2015.

For more information about the program and event contact Courtney Allen, Botanical Education Manager at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens (1151 Oxford Road, San Marino), callen@huntington.org, (626) 405-3408 or Charles H. Thomas, Environmental Equity Consultant at (626) 818-1564 or cthomas@obainc.org.