A small public East Baton Rouge school focused on the environment has won a $5,000 prize after its students excelled when they took a series of online lessons dealing with climate change and related issues.
It’s a feather in the cap of the Eva Legard Center for Coastal and Environmental Studies, which opened in August and has fewer than 50 students, all in sixth grade. The school, a collaboration with LSU’s College of the Coast and Environment, is located at the former Polk Elementary north of LSU and has plans to add grades over time until 12th grade.
Eva Legard students took online lessons, which are aimed at middle school-aged children, as part of the annual Climate Superstar Challenge, developed by Samsung and the National Environmental Education Foundation, or NEEF, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The challenge is in its ninth year.
Five other schools that participated in the challenge also received $5,000 grants. But as the overall winner, Eva Legard enjoyed a live performance Thursday afternoon at the school from AY Young — a Kansas City-based musical performer and United Nations advocate for global energy sustainability — as part of his Battery Tour, which is powered by 100% renewable energy.
Representatives of Samsung and NEEF also came to the school Thursday to announce the honor.
As part of the Climate Superstar Challenge, middle school classrooms across the country completed daily learning tasks geared toward environmental literacy and energy efficiency. The lessons focused on climate change, electricity, renewable energy and electric cars.
“The program encourages teachers to participate in innovative environmental education challenges that empower the next generation to make a lasting impact on our planet,” according to promotional materials for the challenge.
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