Dear EcoRise supporters,
My name is Vielca Anglin. I am a second-year EcoRise Teacher Ambassador and a biology, environmental science, and STEM teacher at City-As-School High School, a public school in New York City. Today, EcoRise kicks off an annual fundraising campaign to support student leadership in sustainability and I’m excited to share how EcoRise has impacted me and my students.
Thanks to supporters like you, I received a classroom scholarship that allowed me to join the EcoRise program in 2017 when I was searching for strong sustainability curricula for my students. I was drawn to EcoRise because of the organization’s focus on empowering students to solve real-world sustainability challenges. I want my students to walk away from my class with a sense of agency and civic-mindedness that will help them positively shape the world they inhabit.
Implementing the EcoRise curriculum in my class has been transformative, allowing me to integrate citizen science concepts and experiential learning into my pedagogy. This program has changed the way I view what my students are capable of. Last year, students in my hydroponics class were inspired to consider food security in our school community. They conducted an “eco-audit” and applied for (and received!) a grant from EcoRise for $485 to revamp our hydroponic gardens and grow healthy snacks the school voted on. The project increased food production in the hydroponics lab by 20%. With the grant, we also hosted three professional chefs for demonstrations on healthy food preparation, engaging students across the school community.
With your support, we hope to grow the number of student-designed sustainability projects implemented in schools across New York City and nationally. Teachers are hungry for solutions-oriented environmental curriculum and the EcoRise offerings are the best I’ve experienced in 17 years of teaching hands down!
Because I really believe in this mission, I am inviting you to help bring a powerful program to new teachers and students across the country. A monthly donation of $10 will give three teachers access to eco-literacy curriculum. While a donation of $25/month kickstarts one student-driven campus-improvement project like our hydroponics lab or this recycling project in California, and $100/month sponsors one Teacher Ambassador like myself to join the EcoRise Summer Institute, which develops, empowers and recognizes educators as community leaders and local champions of environmental education programming.
Thank you so much for your support and consideration!
Together, #WeRise.
Vielca Anglin
Model Teacher and Science Team Facilitator
City-as-School, New York City
