The Center for the Environment at Catawba College is now accepting applications for its fourth annual National Environmental Summit for High School Students, scheduled for July 8-12.
The summit, “Redesigning Our Future,” is open to students from across the country who will be 14-17 years old by the time of the 2014 summit. Those who complete the application process before April 1 will receive a discount of $90 from the student portion of the tuition cost. A limited amount of financial aid is also available.
The experience, intended to help students explore how they can use their interests and talents to make a difference in the world, is a partnership of the Center for the Environment and Rocky Mountain Institute of Colorado. With the guidance of Catawba professors, Center for the Environment staff and Rocky Mountain Institute scientists and engineers, students discover how their interest in diverse areas — everything from writing to chemistry, from history to biology, from philosophy to theater — can be used to address today’s environmental challenges.
“So many people don’t realize they can make a difference or they don’t discover it until later in life,” says John Wear, executive director of the Center for the Environment. “But they can. They can change the path of others. That’s the message we offer these students.”
Summit leaders employ a solutions-based approach to environmental challenges.
Participant Madison Lemoine of Tequesta, Fla., found the summit so interesting that she came back for a second time last year — and plans to attend again this summer. “It was such a great experience,” she says. “I met so many awesome people that I had to go back.”
Lemoine has always tried to be a good steward of the environment. “I’ve always tried to help,” she says, “but the summit started a passion in me.”
For more information or to apply, visit www.CenterForTheEnvironment.org or call 704-637-4727.