During an environmental exhibition Downtown High School student Lakisha Richmond displayed a model of an atom to help explain how pollutants from a now defunct power plant once emitted pollutants. January 2012Downtown High School Teaches Environmental LessonsPaul McDonaldLast month students enrolled in Downtown High School’s (DHS) Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative, or WALC, participated in a two-hour exhibition of environmental issues at Heron’s Head Park, located at the end of Cargo Way. WALC is the brainchild of DHS science teacher Catherine Salvin who, with other educators, created it 13 years ago to spread awareness of environmental issues, and spark youth interest in science-based pursuits. Roughly 50 Downtown High School students – separated into five groups – were dispatched to preset learning stations around the park, paired with second and fourth graders from Longfellow Elementary school. Each station featured a specific topic. “Hands on the land” served as a planting location, where the high schoolers worked with their younger “buddies” to cultivate small plants near the adjacent marsh. At the “Taking Action” stop, the students were provided with pre-addressed postcards to Mayor Ed Lee, to be filled-out with environmental themes. “Story Time” had the older students reading environmental tales to the elementary students. The “Science for Justice” station discussed the pollutants formerly spewed by the now dismantled Hunters Point Power Plant, which operated next to the park from 1929 to 2007. Two sessions were held, the first from 10 a.m. to noon; the second 1 to 3 p.m. Roughly one-third of Downtown High’s 275 students participated in the event. DHS, along with Balboa, is one of San Francisco’s two continuation high schools, which provide an alternative educational setting for students who are considered at-risk of not graduating at the normal pace. Through project-based learning students are offered real world activities and field trips, which engage them more effectively than traditional curricula. WALC, which is available at both DHS and Balboa is “an academic program that utilizes environmental education as the central, unifying theme with which we integrate science, English, social studies, art, technology and math.” |
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