Every year, EarthGen awards medals to students for their commitment to making their communities a healthier place to live and learn. EarthGen Medalists are individuals or groups who have shown leadership in sustainability, inclusion, and resilience within their school community. These characteristics are more important than ever, and Washington’s educational communities are fortunate to have champions working for environmental learning and action.
EarthGen is pleased and honored to recognize our 2022 EarthGen Medalists:
Isara Greacen, Lopez Island High School student
Hannah Lindell-Smith, Summit Atlas High School student
Lacamas Lake Green Team, Lacamas Lake Elementary School team
Student Advisory Council on Climate Change (SAC3), Spokane School District group
Tomorrow Project, Roosevelt High School team
Unique Forest Club, Chinook Middle School group
Isara Greacen
President of the Lopez High School Associated Student Body and a fierce advocate of environmental and social justice, senior Isara Greacen worked with staff from the Lopez Island Solid Waste Disposal District to create a series of fun and educational activities to improve waste management on the island, like hat-making at the Lopez Island community reusable item exchange. She also taught middle and high school students how to sort recyclables at the Lopez Island Solid Waste Disposal District’s Recycling Plaza.
Hannah Lindell-Smith
As a freshman, Hannah founded the Atlas Action Alliance, a student-led climate justice club. Now a sophomore, Hannah has lobbied the Washington State senate, meeting personally with Senator Joe Nguyen and ClimeTime leaders to discuss ways that climate education could be expanded in Seattle schools. After establishing the Atlas Action Alliance group during remote learning, Hannah has seamlessly transitioned the group from virtual activism (her letter to the editor was published in Seattle Times) to piloting on-campus recycling projects and safely organizing in-person events.
Lacamas Lake Green Team
The Green Team at Lacamas Lake Elementary School works hard every day to make the school a better and healthier place. They manage classroom recycling and cafeteria food waste and are not afraid to speak up when they see people littering or throwing away recyclables. When the school district canceled its composting contract as a cost-saving measure, the Green Team took action with a letter campaign, and the district listened. Composting was reinstated district-wide, thanks to the Lacamas Lake Green Team.
Student Advisory Council on Climate Change (SAC3)
This group of Spokane high school, middle school (and some elementary) students is committed to improving how climate change is addressed in the K-12 system. In addition to their advisory role with the district, the group spearheaded the district’s Earth Day celebrations. SAC3 verified students’ widespread concern and desire to learn about climate change with a survey of student attitudes towards environmental issues that received an incredible response rate. They also sponsored a digital climate challenge that pitted schools in a friendly competition to assess and curb their climate impact.
Tomorrow Project
A Seattle chapter of the national Tomorrow Project organization, this dedicated group of Roosevelt High School students met with EarthGen early in the school year for help planning a teaching project. The students developed weekly lessons and activities for fourth-graders at Rising Star Elementary School. Over the course of the year, the Tomorrow Project helped the younger students learn about climate change and energy usage. They led them in taking action through a poster campaign encouraging everyone to save energy and a letter campaign asking the school district to replace fluorescent lighting with efficient LEDs.
Unique Forest Club
This year, Chinook Middle School’s Unique Forest Club has used their own campus as a living laboratory of environmental science. Last year, the Unique Forest Club was founded during remote learning and is a student-led group. Once back on campus, they began surveying the tree and shrub species in an area marked for restoration. They learned which were native and about the value of those species within both scientific and indigenous frameworks. Using what they have learned, the students are developing a fall planting plan that will help restore the historic mix of native species on the site.