USGBC Summer Camp 2020: Advocating for a Healthier, Greener Community
This summer has presented a new set of expectations for everyone, kids and adults alike. With summer camps closed or at reduced capacity, keeping your home-bound students engaged and inspired takes extra effort. And providing safe, fun, and meaningful experiences that grow skill sets while getting kids outside can be difficult even without the social distancing constraints we face today.
To meet this challenge, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC is hosting a virtual summer camp in late July to engage rising 7th through 12th grade students in exploring sustainable city planning through their own neighborhood. Throughout the week-long camp, students will investigate what goes into making a sustainable city, evaluate their own surroundings, and apply that knowledge to advocate for sustainable changes in their city or town.
The deadline to register is Sunday, July 19th at 5:00pm Pacific Daylight Time
Each day of summer camp includes
Hands-on activities
Live interaction sessions
Self-paced projects
Camp Schedule July 27th- 31st
Download a copy of the camp schedule
Day 1
Live call
Welcome and Day 1 overview
Group activity: What is a sustainable city?
Guided reading and video viewing: Sustainable cities and climate change
Guided reading: Sustainable cities around the world
Hands on activity: Building my sustainable community model
Get inspired by exploring sustainable cities around the world, understanding what makes them special, and building your own city model.
By end of day 1, students should be ready to share and talk to others about the basic layout and overview of first draft sustainable community model
Day 2
Live call
Small group discussion: My sustainable community model
Whole group activity: How sustainable is your sustainable city, and how do you know?
Independent research: How does my city plan for sustainability?
Exploration: Investigating sustainability in one part of my community
Blogging: Justifying ideas for my community
[Extra time]: Continue building sustainable community model
Deepen your knowledge by learning how city planners and leaders make decisions, researching what your city or town has been doing, and refining your city model based on what you’ve learned.
By end of day 2, students will write a justification statement for their ideas on the Summer Camp's blog
Day 3
Live call
Whole group discussion: Turning ideas into action
Guided reading and video viewing: How young people have moved ideas into action
Giving feedback: Reading and providing feedback on other student's blog posts
Independent activity: Constructing your advocacy plan outline
Independent activity: Constructing an outline of your video
[Extra time]: Continue building sustainable community model
Apply your knowledge by getting out into your neighborhood, photographing and writing about what you see, and proposing a few changes you think would make it better.
By end of day 3, students will be ready to share and talk to others about their outlines for their advocacy plan and video message
Day 4
Live call
Small group discussion: Giving feedback to others about the outlines of their advocacy plan and video message
Independent activity: Revising and editing video message and advocacy outlines
Independent activity: Video recording and editing
[Extra time]: Continue building sustainable community model
Set goals for yourself by considering input from your peers, creating an advocacy plan, and shooting a short video to explain your next steps.
By end of day 4, students will upload their edited video message to share with camp participants by 5pm
Day 5
Blogging: Presenting my video and action plan
Blogging: Presenting my community model
Live call and Summer Camp sign off
Celebrate all that you’ve accomplished over the course of the week alongside some new friends from across the country.
The virtual call will occur from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. ET on Day 5. All students, regardless of time zone, will be asked to attend the 4 p.m. ET call.
Requirements
Access to Learning Lab subscription ($40) to see the week’s materials (or request a scholarship on the registration page)
Joining a daily one-hour interactive video call with other campers. One call will be held for Eastern/Central time zone students at 10 a.m. ET/ 9 a.m. CT, and a separate call will be held for Mountain/Pacific time zone students at 11 a.m. MT / 10 a.m. PT.
Access to a computer or tablet and reliable internet
Ability to access and explore a local neighborhood in person
Access to a camera and video camera (or a phone with camera and video-recording ability)
Materials
Glue
Scissors
Several clean and used cardboard boxes in various forms, shapes, and sizes (such as cereal or cracker boxes, shoe boxes, jewelry boxes, paper towel rolls, etc.)
Tape
Ruler
Pencils, colored pencils or markers
Clean and used paper scraps
Paints (optional)