Hooray! Global Student Embassy (GSE) was chosen by 2015 Awards Gala attendees as the winner of our annual Seeds of Change Award, which comes along with a $500 check to help support new and/or current projects. We are proud of the GSE staff and students for their hard work in the community and for sharing their goals at our event.
Each year at our gala, we host the Seeds of Change Award to give a handful of local projects and organizations the chance to talk about their work with people in the local sustainability community. Each nominee prepares a presentation and display table to share examples of their work and future goals with event attendees. Event-goers vote for their favorite project, and the most popular nominee is chosen before award winners are announced. Read more about the award in our September article.
Didn’t get the chance to stop by GSE’s table to learn more about them? GSE is a youth program that gives high school-aged students in both Northern California and some Latin American countries the chance to engage in local, sustainability-based engagement programs as well an international exchange program. Year-round, the students build and work in gardens to gain agricultural knowledge and learn how to be a leader and steward within their communities.
GSE works in five high schools to create outdoor classrooms in the form of school gardens that integrate science classes in a hands on way. They run after-school programs weekly at each school and donate all of the produce to the White Pony Express and the International Rescue Committee. They work with 150-200 students weekly through partnering with environmental science classes and the after school program. GSE plans to use their $500 grant to help support these local programming efforts!
During spring break, about 100 students study abroad in Nicaragua and Ecuador, where they learn to build a more global understanding of agriculture and sustainability. Students from these countries also participate in the exchange program and come to Northern California, where GSE students serve as local mentors and friends during their international experience. Chrissy Orangio is the Regional Coordinator for Contra Costa County, which includes local high schools such as Las Lomas, Miramonte, and Campolindo.
We are so grateful to have had five other Seeds of Change nominees this year! Our other presenters include the following: Pleasant Hill Instructional Garden, West County DIGS, KO Maker Local Beekeeper, White Pony Express, and The Urban Farmers. All of our participants did a wonderful job with their presentations, and we are proud of each of their contributions to the local community!
Have a compliment for any of our Seeds of Change nominees? Drop a line below for them to read!
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