The National Council for Science and the Environment

DC EnvironMentors is an environmental mentoring program that seeks to teach underserved high school students about local environmental issues and cultivate their interest in the sciences. Students are set up in one-to-one mentoring relationships with professionals from the community to guide them through researching an environmental issue of their choice, and coach them into becoming an advocate for their cause through presentations at our DC EnvironMentors Science Fair and to elementary school students. Throughout the year, students attend field trips to experience the environment and participate in skills workshops to prepare them for college. Students present their research projects each spring and are given the chance to win college scholarships at our Science Fair. Many students that participate in our program pursue degrees and careers in the environmental or science fields, and all of our students are equipped with the research skills they need to succeed in college and beyond.

Student Profiles:

Shaunise lives in Anacostia, in Ward 7, and comes from a single parent home. Shaunise's local high school, Ballou High School, is one of the worst ranked high schools (according to the Washington Post High School Challenge Rating) in DC and so she chose to attend the academically rigorous Thurgood Marshall Academy charter high school (one of the top ten DC high schools in the Challenge Rating). She joined DC EnvironMentors in her sophomore year of high school and was matched with  a mentor from the Environmental Protection Agency. Shaunise and Megan hit it off instantly with their love for science and competition! Shaunise won a DC EnvironMentors scholarship that year and, with Megan’s guidance, competed the following two years, doing projects on solar and wind energy that won Shaunise a total of $3500 in national and local scholarships. Megan was a consistent supporter of Shaunise throughout her high school experience and gave her the confidence she needed to keep pushing her limits of success. Shaunise has graduated high school and is now attending Trinity University for a degree in Biology.

Tieshia lives in Columbia Heights, in Ward 4. She attended Cardozo High School, a school where less than a quarter of the students are meeting basic standards for math and reading, according to 2010 DC standardized testing results. Tieshia has a learning disability and speech impediment. She started DC EnvironMentors in her sophomore year of high school, to the surprise of her teachers. She has worked with 3 different mentors: Brooke taught her that science could be cool, Roberta guided her do her first research project, and Shelly helped her through her speech impediment to be able to give a great presentation at the Science Fair. She has competed in 3 DC EnvironMentors fairs, has done research on frogs, lead in drinking water, and green house gas emissions from cars. She graduated high school and is now attending Alleghany College for Biology.

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