Join the Community Builders Challenge, a NEW hands-on SEL learning experience that combines creativity and compassion to inspire students across the country to build a better world.
Learn MoreDiscover the “Urban Treehouses” where children learn about the environment through get-your-hands-dirty conservation projects.
The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is the largest provider of hands-on environmental conservation programs for youth and adults in the United States. The SCA works in communities to increase awareness of the link between living conditions and health, mitigate health impacts of climate change, and create safe and healthy places. Most of us have benefitted in some way from the 28 million hours of service provided by more than 70,000 of the young participants restoring and protecting national parks, marine sanctuaries, cultural landmarks, and community green spaces across the country since the SCA was founded in 1957.
This mission has never been more vital, and it’s one Red Nose Day is proud to champion as a supporter of the SCA’s Urban Treehouse Program, which teaches young people about sustainable food systems and their relation to climate action while transforming green spaces and gardens in under–resourced communities into flourishing plots and outdoor classrooms. Funds donated to Red Nose Day make it possible to power programs like these, helping to build the next generation of conservation leaders and to ensure the environment and communities in which people live, work, and play, prevent disease and facilitate good physical and mental health.
Educator Spotlight: Natalie Garcia
Natalie Garcia is an SCA educator who works on the Urban Treehouse program in Texas. A recent college graduate, Garcia says her job allows her to connect with students just like her.
“I come from a low-income neighborhood myself and know what a difference education can make, especially in early childhood. As an educator, I want to say that I am planting seeds for my students.”
For Natalie, these seeds are all about inspiring her students to think about life in new ways, whether it’s by using the five senses to describe their neighborhoods or encouraging questions about the natural world. Helping students draw connections between their daily living conditions and the environment is a key part of the Urban Treehouse mission.
“We were going over animal diets, and a student named Anna had never seen one of the animals I was talking about,” Natalie told us. “I told her it was a deer, and after the lesson, she looked it up on her tablet. And that was the highlight of my day because I knew I had planted a small seed in her mind.”
By supporting the Red Nose Day campaign, you can help educators like Natalie continue the work of planting seeds of curiosity and connections in young minds between a healthy environment and their own health. Who knows – your generosity might just be the key that unlocks a world of discovery in a student’s life.
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