It’s hard to imagine a more attention-getting activity for students of all ages than the Soil Your Undies Challenge. The name alone evokes questions, and the process is a memorable way for students to understand the multiple factors impacting soil health, as 21 K-12 educators learned at an
Before he joined the Careers in Conservation/Youth Engaged in Sustainable Systems (YESS) program, Carlos Reyes described himself as ‘not too into the outdoors.’ Today, the YV-TECH senior is one of the first students to get a job in the field after completing the program. “The program had a
As part of the Explora Budd event series—funded through the Inspire Olympia grant for Science, Culture, and the Arts—the Pacific Education Institute (PEI) invited families to gather at Shelter 4 in Squaxin Park on October 4. This second installment featured an interpretive bird and marine life walk led
by Lourdes Flores, Simbiosis Consulting More than 60 people stopped by the Port Plaza on September 20th during celebrations of Latino Conservation Week to check out the Thurston County watershed map that the City of Olympia created. Adults and children alike located their neighborhood and accurately identified their
This summer, 112 students participated in eight Youth Engaged in Sustainable Systems (YESS) programs across Washington State. Each program was a partnership between PEI, school districts, and at least 87 local community partners. This year, participation increased 86% from 2024, when PEI served 60 students across six programs.
In some ways, Western Washington University’s (WWU) CREST program more closely resembles a summer camp or even what one teacher jokingly referred to as a ‘teaching spa’ than a typical professional development session. “The whole second week is about treating teachers as experts, and we like to say we’re
Back in 2019, Cheryl Fambles explained why it made sense for Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council (PacMtn) to support and fund PEI. “They are an important intermediary,” she said. “PEI is a translator and an advocate in that space between industry and employer and the schools. They have
Stephanie Holubowsky is a fan of salmon dinners, but until recently, she hadn’t considered where it came from or the historic and cultural issues around it. “I never gave much thought to how it ended up on my plate and the struggles people went through with being able
Kim Stenbak’s 4th-graders had a burning question, one they brought up at regular intervals during class at Union Ridge Elementary School. “Has the principal said yes yet?” The class had collected data from both teachers and students about the impacts of outdoor learning, in an attempt to convince
“Out of my 23 years of teaching, this professional development is in my top two – or ties for first in terms of how much I learned and [the] misconceptions [that] changed, changing my perspective on logging in this case. I’m so happy to have the rest of
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