Student Environmental Leadership Forum (SELF)

The Clark County Save Organic Scraps program team is committed to working with high schools to implement and improve all school recycling programs. High school students take a direct leadership role implementing the SOS program through science classes, senior projects and environmental clubs. And new in 2007, the first annual Student Environmental Leadership Forum (SELF) was created to meet the growing interest of students looking for environmental and sustainability education.

What is SELF?

SELF brings environmental professionals and experts together with students for a day of learning sessions focused on leadership and the environment. SELF is open to all high school students in Clark County, WA who are interested in environmental and sustainability issues and want to take action! SELF provides educational and leadership tools to enable students to become active and effective community members.

Information and presentations from SELF 2008


SELF 2009

About SELF 2009 (PDF)

In 2009, The Student Environmental Leadership Forum attracted over 200 students from 17 schools throughout Clark County. As part of the conference, student groups came up with ideas about how they could go back to their schools and communities, and take action to improve the environment where they live and learn. These action projects help students further process the information they learned at SELF, and put this new knowledge and new skills to use. This year, Clark County was able to provide schools with grant funding for superior action projects. It is estimated that these eleven action projects and their impacts will reach 4,950+ individuals around the county.

Here are descriptions of the projects that received grant funding this year:

Camas High School: Envirosculpt
The goal is to combine art and environmental awareness in a fun way. Over the course of a week, the school will collect all different kinds of recyclable materials from all school students. These “ingredients” will then be used in a sculpture competition amongst students. The sculptures will all be built along the theme of “No resource is infinite.” These individual sculptures will then all be combined into one large sculpture. This will then be photographed, and the large photograph will be hung in the school as a permanent reminder about the importance of recycling. 
Expected reach 1200+ individuals (Student body + some parents, staff and public).

Columbia River High School: Compost Bins and Vermicompost Bins
Construct a 3 bin compost system, as well as worm compost (aka vermicompost) bin so that the horticultural program on campus can take better advantage of the leaves and other compostable debris around the school and green house area. This compost will be used to grow plants in the greenhouse, as well as educate students about the benefits of composting. The horticultural class as well as the ecology club will develop a schedule for maintaining and monitoring the compost bins; hence many people will be involved and learn from the process.
Expected reach:  70+ students per year

Fort Vancouver High School: Operation Sustainable Trapper
A multi-tiered project focused on improving both the wildlife habitat and the appearance around the school’s horticultural center, which will serve to help educate students on the environment. The horticultural club will paint a mural of a tree made of student’s hands on the side of the mural. Each first year horticultural student will be able to be a leaf on the tree.  Then birdhouses will be built, and plants will be placed so as to encourage wildlife to use the space as well as students.
Expected reach:  30+ students per year directly, entire school 1800 students indirectly

Heritage High School:  Biodiesel Project – Steel tank
Large steel tank needed to house finished biodiesel.  This class has been producing bio-diesel, and working on biodiesel engines for the past five years. Significant upgrades are needed to keep the project up to code, and purchasing a new steel tank will help to keep this fantastic hands-on environmental project going.
Expected reach: 50+ students, plus hundreds of members of the public who learn about biodiesel through the outreach events the class participates in.

La Center High School: Project Study Environmental Media
The Project Study Class at La Center has been working on numerous environmental projects over the past year, such as wetland restoration, recycling, water monitoring and salmon habitat restoration. The class believes that it is important to get the word out to the public about the things that they have been doing. The SELF grant will help them purchase a video camera which will help them produce videos on their project that will be shown around the school district, and possibly at city hall.
Expected reach: 1000+ students and members of the general public

Legacy High School: Generation Green-School Habitat Improvement and Environmental Education
Last year the campus lost a number of its large trees and some shrubs due to harsh weather and insect damage. This removed much of the aesthetic appeal of the campus as well as prime habitat for small animals in the area. Generation Green will kick off an ongoing environmental theme at school. It will begin with a school-wide habitat reconstruction effort. Native plants, trees and shrubs will be planted around the campus, and this will be coordinated with environmental education lessons around school, and the establishment of an environmental awareness club called “Generation Green.”
Expected reach: 100+ students and members of the general public

Lewis and Clark @ Columbia River High School: Invasive Himalayan Blackberry Removal along Cougar Creek
 Invasive Himalayan blackberry is playing a major role in changing the habitat around Cougar Creek, which passes by Columbia River High school. Students will be removing blackberry from the hillside, and planting native plants, to help recreate the habitat native to the area. Funding will help provide the tools necessary for removal and management of the area for years to come.
Expected reach: 100+ students and members of the general public

Ridgefield High School: Outdoor Recycling Centers
The environmental sciences class at Ridgefield High started a basic recycling program this past year, and that has greatly increased the amount of recycling they collect weekly from the school. However, there is a great deal of waste that is disposed of outside the school where students congregate during lunch on nice days, and after school. Special heavy duty containers that are designed to be used outside are needed to capture this waste. The SELF grant will assist the environmental sciences class in purchasing some of these bins.
Expected reach: 1200+ students and members of the general public

Skyridge Middle School: Reusable Lunch Bags
Students that attended SELF want to reduce the amount of lunch waste generated in their cafeteria. The school already participates in the Save Organic Scraps recycling program, but wants to take it a step further by encouraging reuse. Their plan is to eliminate the use of plastic and paper bags by students who bring their lunch to school. They will purchase reusable “Envirotote” bags, and provide them to students at a very small fee. This fee will be used to purchase more bags, until hopefully the entire school is using these envirotote bags.
Expected reach: 800+ students and members of the general public

Skyview High School: Wildlife Appreciation Project
To allow students to appreciate and study the plant life of the Northwest without having to take a fieldtrip, the students of Skyview High School will be creating a native plant walk on campus. Various native plants will be planted around the school with identifying markers. These plants will be used in lessons around the school, and help to beautify the school, while making it more biodiverse.
Expected reach: 200+ students

Summit View: Demonstration Edible Landscape
To help teach students organic gardening skills, students from Summit View High School will be planting a demonstration edible landscape on a terraced hill beside the school. They will be planting numerous types of herbs and fruits that will beautify the area, while providing useful organic herbs and produce. Students will mark all of the plants, and create a booklet to help teach other students about the garden.
Expected reach: 200+ students