State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

ESF’s sustainability partnerships with the local community include: 1. ESF in the High School - A school/college partnership program that enables qualified students to: experience college-level course work while still in high school, understand the complex scientific and social perspectives behind the environmental issues that make headlines every day such as the relationship between energy and the environment, learn about and explore diverse interests and career opportunities in environmental science, engineering, management, policy and design - and in related areas such as law, communications, technology and medicine. 2. ESF Science Corps - For affiliated schools, the ESF Science Corps volunteers are science resources for teachers and students who are engaging in original inquiry. Science Corps members are “front line,” in-school role models and resources for students whose college and career plans are taking shape. Funded initially by a National Science Foundation grant, the ESF Science Corps is comprised of ESF undergraduate, masters and Ph.D. students, faculty and other volunteers. ESF Science Corps members integrate their research and professional experiences into classroom, lab and field experiences through in-school, on-campus and workplace presentations, discussions and demonstrations. ESF faculty and educational specialists serve as Science Corps facilitators and mentors. 3. ESF Environmental Challenge: Science Fair and Career Exploration for 7th & 8th grade students-The Environmental Challenge is a science fair and career exploration opportunity designed especially for all Syracuse City School District seventh and eighth grade students. Environmental Challenge encourages: student projects that support and extend 7/8th grade science curriculum, student research, scientific inquiry, and critical thinking, students to begin exploring science and science-related careers and students to explore and understand the urban environment and its relationship to the global environment. 4. ESF SCIENCE- ESF SCIENCE summer camp program achieves several of the targets outlined by the College's Vision 2020: A Better World Through Environmental Discovery and exposes Syracuse middle school students to science and environmental education. ESF SCIENCE, situated in local green spaces such as Elmwood Park and the Onondaga Creek corridor, helps students be more aware of urban environmental issues and motivates them to become involved in determining the outcomes of environmental problem solving. In addition, students are involved in service learning projects that promote environmental stewardship, as students take pride in maintaining and improving the environment for their communities. Students learn in local green spaces that are relevant to their lives, a critical key for cultivating and sustaining interest in science during the middle school years and beyond. Our goal is to enrich student science learning using inquiry, experiential, and critical thinking approaches in the urban environment. 5. Advanced Training Workshop in Alternative Energy -The Advanced Training Workshop in Alternative Energy at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is designed to promote the understanding and use of alternative energy technologies as they pertain to both the classroom and outside world. The workshop is open to high school science teachers, pre-service science teachers, and other community educators in New York State. The goal of the workshop is to provide a background in PV, wind, and other alternative energies for use in classroom education. 6. Spring Environmental Summit: The Environmental Summit is a research symposium designed to bring together a community of high school aged scientists to present and discuss their original research to their peers, high school and college science faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. http://www.esf.edu/calendar/event.asp?EventId=2137