April is Climate and Health Month in Cuyahoga County, and Intergenerational Schools students have been leading and learning through environmental projects that engage classmates, families, local college students and the community at large.
Earth Day Fair at TIS – East
On April 11, The Intergenerational School – East hosted an Earth Day Fair, where Refining (5th-6th grade) and Applying (7th-8th grade) Students presented interactive lessons to students, parents, volunteers and community partners on various topics relating to climate, environmental science, conservation and renewable energy. Presenters created their lesson displays using repurposed materials from boxes from the school’s weekly meal shipments from the Children’s Hunger Alliance.
Leading up to the Earth Day event at TIS-East, teachers at the Emerging (K – 2ndgrade) and Developing (3rd – 4th grade) classes deputized students as Environmental Protection Agents for the school. With badges and stickers in hand, the agents recognized their peers with stickers to reward activities that reduce waste and promote environmental health, like refilling a reusable bottle at the water fountain, putting recyclable waste in the right receptacle, or repurposing materials for art and class projects.
“The Earth Day event is another great example of the cross-disciplinary, student-led and community-focused approach that makes our schools so special,” said Brooke King, CEO of the Intergenerational Schools. “It combined science, social studies and citizenship, literacy with a book giveaway, and gave everyone who attended the chance to both teach and learn—and to carry the experience beyond the classroom and beyond a single day to promote lasting change.”
Community Leadership for Lasting Change
For example, Refining Stage student Antonio Pace hosted a discussion on the Great Global Cleanup, an international effort working to tackle plastic waste. Following his research, Antonio is exploring ways to connect with cleanup efforts in Cleveland and connect Intergenerational Schools students and families with these activities.
Several Applying Students are took their Earth Day presentations on the road, joining Case Western Reserve University’s student-led Undergraduate Society for Bioethics and Health Humanities on Earth Day, April 22, for an on-campus discussion: Intergenerational and Intersectoral Climate and Health: Truth and Reckoning. Intergens students will also participate in a global, virtual discussion on April 27 hosted by the Legacy Project and Design School for Regenerating Earth for International Intergenerational Week.
Intergenerational Connections
“Our schools are built on the premise that community is forged, strengthened and enriched by intergenerational connections,” said co-Founder, Peter Whitehouse, M.D. and PhD. “Earth Day is a perfect encapsulation of how much it matters for the generations to care for, hear from, and work with one another toward a better future—for the youngest generations of today and all those that will follow. I am so proud and inspired to see students leading with such passion and the support and connection we are able to foster throughout the community.”
Dr. Whitehouse is a gerontologist, physician and CWRU faculty member who co-founded the Intergenerational Schools in 2000 along with educator and developmental psychologist Catherine Whitehouse, Ph.D., and Stephanie FallCreek, DSW, former Executive Director of Fairhill Center. Together, they developed an interdisciplinary, intergenerational model for K-8 education that promotes better outcomes for students and older adults.
About the Intergenerational Schools
The Intergenerational Schools are a public, nonprofit charter school model with two campuses in Cleveland, Near West in the Ohio City neighborhood and East in the Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood. For more than 20 years, the schools have offered tuition-free, K-8 education that combines multi-age classes, intergenerational community partnerships and whole-child learning to foster bright futures for students and a stronger, more just community for all. Learn more at igschools.org.